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Team Taiwan loses out to South Korea

Taiwan's Hsu Wei-sheng, left, and Lin Yi-hui surround a South Korean player during their match yesterday at the Asian University Men's Basketball Championship in Taipei. South Korea prevailed 96-85. PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Team Taiwan failed at the final hurdle in the title game of the inaugural Asian University Men's Basketball Championship to suffer a 96-85 defeat to South Korea at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium last night.

Making more than 70 percent of their shots during a fast-paced first quarter, Taiwan racked up a 29-26 lead over the team that had beaten them by seven in the preliminaries.

But that was the extent of the success that Taiwan could achieve as South Korea countered with a 29-point second quarter while holding Taiwan to 11 to achieve a 55-40 cushion by the end of the first half.

After the two teams went hammer-and-tongs at each other in an evenly matched third quarter, Taiwan finally broke loose to outscore South Korea by six (24-to-18) in the final quarter. But that was too little too late for the home team, as the South Koreans held on to clinch the win.

Five different players notched double-digit scores for Taiwan in the game compared to South Korea's four, with big men Chien Chia-hong's (YMY) 16 and Yoon Yeo Kwon's 29 being respective team-highs.

Guard Byun Hyun-soo also scored 25 points for South Korea.

China 95, Hong Kong 71

Team Hong Kong proved no match for the China in the battle for third place yesterday afternoon, losing by a 95-71 margin for a fourth-place finish.

Firing on all cylinders offensively, China took a whopping 36-16 lead after the initial quarter and never looked back.

Leading the attack for Team China was center Ji Zhe, whose eleven first-quarter points (20 for the game) not only established an inside dominance for his team, but also drew the Hong Kong defense in to free up the outside shots for fellow guard Lu Yao, who led all scorers with 25 points.

Taiwan 89, China 87

Team Taiwan earned the right to contest the championship game with a narrow 89-87 win over China on Saturday, thanks to a stellar performance by point guard Su Yi-jeh (Dacin Tigers) who rang up a game-high 23 points on the night.

The home team saw their 10-point halftime lead dwindle to nothing midway through the fourth quarter and actually trailed China by as much as four points with under three minutes remaining in the game, before rallying with a 6-0 run to escape with a dramatic win.

This game followed a similar pattern to Taiwan's 114-87 win over China in the preliminaries on Thursday night, with the local team showing early initiative to take a 25-20 lead after the first quarter.

Taiwan would lead by as much as 17 points in the second quarter, thanks to three three-pointers by Lu Cheng-rue (Yulon Dinos), before settling for a 53-43 lead at the end of the first half.

Improved outside shooting, coupled with some sloppy defense on the part of Taiwan, cut the deficit for China to six points by the start of the fourth quarter, before a pair of monstrous three-pointers by China guard Wang Da Yong actually put the visitors ahead 80-79 for the first time in the game with under six minutes left to play.

China would extend its lead to four by the three-minute mark, before Su took matters into his own hands by scoring five of Taiwan's final six points to secure the victory.
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