Japan flamed out in the East Asian championship semifinal on Tuesday, falling 78-73 to Taiwan as turnovers and an anemic offensive performance left the hosts looking for somewhere to hide in Nagano.

Taiwan's Quincy Davis III proved too much for Japan's frontline to handle as the U.S.-born veteran lumbered his way to 28 points, 18 in the first half, while the hosts failed to muster any sort of consistent play on either end of the court.

Earlier, South Korea won a 106-104 thriller against China to set up a final matchup with Taiwan, Jeon Jun Beom playing hero by hitting a pull-up game-winner with 4 seconds left in overtime.

Japan coach Luka Pavicevic described his team's performance as "wrong," saying it was particularly disappointing in front of a home crowd.

"When I say that we played the wrong way, I think that we worked hard but not with adequate focus and this resulted in 21 offensive rebounds for the opponent. It also resulted in 12 turnovers that we had, which is 32 possessions that we should have cut down altogether," he said.

"So as I think you saw our team tried hard to go from behind, which we started from in the first quarter, but we lacked I think enough presence of mind and calmness to connect with the good place that we sometimes have."

The early deficit Pavicevic referenced was a 10-point hole in which Japan found itself in the first quarter as poor shooting and a Davis III 14-point first period put the team on the back foot. The 203-centimeter 34-year-old proved a handful as he dominated the paint, going 7-for-12 mostly from point-blank range.

The pain continued for Japan in the second as turnovers and wayward shooting left the half time deficit at 14. Japan shot an abysmal 29 percent from the floor across the first two periods while being completely dominated on the boards (30-16).

A frustrated Pavicevic rued his team's rebounding woes.

"The whole game was for us tonight (a case of) making some good defense and then letting the opponent get another chance. They scored a lot of points on second chance (opportunities) and that is something that hurt us in the Korean game as well," he said.

"I feel disappointed that we could not come with enough stamina and aggressiveness and intensity to fight off and protect already defended offense (possessions)."

Pavicevic inserted big man Kosuke Takeuchi to start the third, likely hoping to slow Davis III and turn the tide, but not long after, lost point guard Yuki Togashi who limped off with a lower-leg injury.

Makoto Hiejima, who ended with a team-high 20 points, and Ira Brown keyed a third-quarter run that cut the deficit to eight going into the last period. A couple of athletic defensive plays from up-and-comer Yudai Baba also helping turn the tide.

Japan cut the lead to five at the start of the fourth but another flurry of turnovers allowed Taiwan to establish an insurmountable lead.

China brought a very young team to the tournament -- with an average age of just 18 -- but it was South Korea that cracked under pressure in their semifinal, giving up a 9-point lead in the final 1 minute, 32 seconds of regulation. And things did not get much better in overtime, with the Koreans needing a moment of fortitude from Jeon to pull out the win.

Faced with a Chinese team playing a paint-packing zone defense for large periods of the game, the Koreans were forced to gun from the outside, and that they did, shooting 35 shots from behind the arc at an outstanding 54.3 percent.

Jeon, Heo Il Young and Doo Kyung Min did the most damage, shooting a combined 16-for-26 from deep, with Heo finishing with a game-high 22 points.

China was led by Sun Minghui's 28-point, seven-assist, five-rebound effort with Hu Jinqiu providing outstanding support with his 17-point, 18-rebound double-double.