Taiwan's A team suffered their first loss at the Jones Cup yesterday, but the B team earned a comeback victory over Japan to improve their record to 2-0.
In the early match, the A team squandered an early lead to lose to New Zealand 50-51. Li Wan-ting, the main offensive force in Wednesday's victory over South Korea, was stymied for just eight points over 40 minutes of play.
Only Chen Yi-feng managed to reach double digits with 12 points.
Taiwan jumped out to an early 20-13 lead in the first period, but New Zealand's offense managed to regroup and shut down Taiwan for just 19 points over the next two periods.
Despite out-shooting Japan 60 percent to 36 percent from the field in the first half of the late game, the B team went into the second half with just a two point advantage 44-42. Japan surged ahead to a 69-63 lead in the third quarter by shooting 53 percent from the field, including 5-6 in three-point attempts.
But Taiwan's high-pressure defense took control from there, holding Japan to just 3-19 shooting from the field in the fourth for a 90-80 victory.
The A team is scheduled to have a day off today, while the B team will play South Korea at 7:30pm at the Sinjhuang stadium.
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