Impressive victories over the Philippines (82-76) and South Korea (84-73) last weekend boosted Team Taiwan to a 7-2 tournament record and a second-place finish in the 2005 William Jones's Cup competition.
Winning all nine contests over a nine-day stretch, Team USA claimed the title in convincing fashion, followed by Taiwan (7-2) and Qatar (6-3), Russia (6-3), and the Philippines (6-3) in a three-way tie to round out the top three finishers.
Saturday's game between Taiwan and the Philippines at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium was essentially a battle for the second-place as Team USA secured the title with a 105-76 win over India earlier in the day.
The game against the Philippines began with Team Taiwan hitting nearly all its perimeter shots in a 29-point first quarter.
But the 29-18 lead dwindled to just three points by the halftime (45-42) as an injury to red-hot shooting guard Lee Hsueh-lin (eight points in first quarter), coupled with Filipino big man Asi Taulava's exceptional low post play, helped Team Philippines close the gap.
Strong inside play by Taiwan center Tseng Wen-ding (9-for-9 shooting from inside the paint) and several timely outside shots by forward Lee Chi-yi and point guard Chen Chih-chung built a 15-point lead for Taiwan early in the fourth quarter before the resilient Filipinos rallied again to pull within a deuce of the hosts with under two minutes to play.
It took a three-pointer by Chen with just over a minute left in the game to give Team Taiwan a five-point advantage, sealing an 82-76 win in front of a soldout crowd of 3,000-plus.
Tseng walked away with the game-MVP honor for his game-high 28-point,10-rebound night to lead the Taiwan attack.
The Philippines' Asi Taulava ending with 27 points and 16 boards, followed by Donaldo Hontivero and Anthony Helterbrand's 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Taiwan 84, South Korea 73
Team Taiwan held a sharp-shooting South Korean squad to just one field goal in a low-scoring 16-5 first quarter.
Four three-pointers by the revived South Korean outside game moved Team South Korea to within five points of the home hosts, but Tseng made sure that was as close as the South Koreans would get with two spectacular dunks in the second quarter to keep the Taiwan lead at nine (32-23) for the first half.
Mid-way through the third quarter, South Korea's big men Julian Kim and Yong-Hwan Kim further pounded the ball inside as their teammates put down five three-pointers, pulling the visitors to within two points of Team Taiwan (44-42).
Picking up the slack for Team Taiwan were guards Chen Chih-chung, Chang Chih-fong and Yang Yu-ming, whose strong drives to the basket and key three-pointers in a combined 24-point fourth quarter, more than made up for Tseng's absence in the middle.
"I am very proud that we didn't fold after A-Ding [Tseng] got into foul trouble, the guards really did a heck of a job for us when it mattered the most," Team Taiwan head coach Lee Yun-kuan said after the game.
Tseng finished out the nine-game tournament with 81 rebounds, tying him with American great Reggie Okosa for the overall rebounding title, while his tournament-best 37 blocked shots were 10 more than Qatar's Omer Abdgader Salem, earning the Taiwanese center a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
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