Inspired by the presence of their president, Mr. Michel Suleiman, Lebanon left nothing to chance, and doubt, from the word go and scored a 97-59 win over Japan in the Championship game on Sunday.

The helmsmen of the teams playing the final tonight have been two of the more expressive coaches in this competition. But both the Thomases – Tim Wisman of Japan and Lebanon’s Tab Baldwin – have more than the title alone at stake in the final tonight.

Japan outscored Qatar 23-16 in the final ten minutes to force the issue into Overtime, and then held fort grimly to win the first semifinal 78-76 in Overtime on Friday. Japan, who will play for the title against the winners of the ongoing semifinal between Philippines and Lebanon, thus took the credit of ousting the two previous champions of the FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup in back-to-back games.

Japan allowed a depleted Jordan to burn the candle from both ends, prowled around looking for a crack in the rival armor, when presented the opportunity pounced on it and romped on to complete the semifinal line-up with a 94-80 win on Friday.

Japan did exactly what was expected of them, not only for their own progress but also what three others team were praying – beat Iraq – to conclude the Group A Preliminary Round on Wednesday. Japan’s 87-72 win propped Tim Wisman’s team to top of the standings in Group B – thereby earning a quarterfinal clash against the No 4 team of Group B, which will be decided after the game between Jordan and Syria.