TOKYO -- Penn State men's basketball alumnus and Japan Olympic women's basketball head coach Tom Hovasse '89 guided his team to a thrilling 86-85 win over Belgium in quarterfinal action Wednesday, as Japan punched its ticket to its first-ever Olympic semifinal.
Japan clawed back from a 13-point deficit to capture the one-point victory. A three-pointer with 16 seconds left to play put Japan up by one, 86-85, and the Japanese defense held strong in the final seconds to secure the country's first-ever spot in the Olympic women's basketball semifinals.
Hovasse is serving as the head coach of Japan for the 2020 Tokyo games after serving as an assistant coach during the 2016 Rio games. Hovasse was named the first foreign-born head coach of the Japanese National Team in 2017.
Hovasse was a first team all-conference performer at Penn State who ranks No. 12 on Penn State's all-time scoring leaders list with 1,459 career points. He played for the Nittany Lions from 1985-1989, earning first team All-Atlantic 10 honors as a senior in 1989. Hovasse went on to play professionally for a number of years, making several stops overseas and seeing time with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks during the 1994-95 season. He has spent the last 10-plus years coaching, with a majority of his coaching career coming in Japan and a brief stint as an assistant coach with the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury.
Japan will now face France in the Olympic semifinals at 7 a.m. ET on Friday, Aug. 6. The teams faced each other in the opening game of group play, with Japan coming out on top 74-70 on July 27. Women's gold and bronze medal games will take place Saturday and Sunday as Japan looks for its first-ever medal in the sport of women's basketball.
