Early foul trouble by starting center Tseng Wen-ding (Yulon Dinos), coupled with poor 13-for-22 shooting from behind the free throw line (59.1%), left Team Taiwan 10 points short of the US as they lost the final of the 2006 William Jones' Cup Basketball Tournament by a 79-69 margin on Sunday evening.
The sellout crowd of over 3,500 at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium saw the home team fall 12-2 behind the Americans early before regrouping to reduce the deficit to eight points to close out the first quarter trailing 24-16.
Forward Tien Lei (Dacin Tigers) and guard Yang Tseh-yi (Videoland Hunters) would team up for 10 big points early in the second quarter to help Taiwan force a brief tie with the US, but timidness on Taiwan's part to take outside shots when left wide open actually prevented the hosts from potentially taking a lead in the game.
Taiwan also had several excellent scoring chances with numerous close-up shots and lay-ups, but could not convert on these golden opportunities, thus it was unable to cut into the US' lead further as the two squads finished the first half with the scores at 45-38.
An obvious attempt to pound the ball inside the paint netted Taiwan's big men Tseng and Lee Chi-yi (Videoland Hunters) 15 combined points in the third to reduce a once-15 point Team USA lead back to six points heading into the final quarter.
But the American attack, powered by the deadly perimeter shooting of Troy DeVries and 10 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter (24 in the game, compared to Taiwan's seven) would boost Team USA's lead up to as many as 18, a lead that proved insurmountable for Taiwan as it surrendered to the newly crowned champs.
"They [Team USA] simply outplayed us in just about every facet of the game, they outhustled us, outrebounded us, and outshot us," head coach Lee Yun-kuan said after the game, pointing out areas in which his crew still needed to improve.
Tseng led Team Taiwan with 16 points and seven boards in a game which he committed three fouls before the second quarter was even halfway through.
He was joined by point guard Lee Hsueh-lin's (Yulon Dinos) 13 and versatile forward Chen "Airman" Hsin-an's 11 to round out the double-digit scorers for Taiwan.
As for Team USA, DeVries' game-high 20 points was a big reason that his team never trailed in the entire contest. The University of New Mexico guard was followed by forwards Josh Carter's with 19 and Tony Dandridge's even dozen.
Final Standings
Team Qatar dominated South Korea in an 87-74 win to take home the bronze medal while the South Koreans settled for a fourth-place finish in this year's play.
Kazakhstan roughed up the squad from the Philippines by a final of 98-86 to end the tournament strong with a fifth-place finish, despite starting out with a 0-3 mark.
Team Japan finally broke through for its first win in this year's competition by narrowly topping the young group from Australia in a 89-84 win to end with a No.7 finish.
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