Chinese Culture University made it two in a row in the Elite Eight round of the annual University Basketball Association (UBA) tournament on Tuesday by downing National Taiwan University of Arts 87-79 in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.
Red-hot forward Lu Cheng-rue (Yulon Luxgens) carried his momentum from Monday’s win over Fu Jen Catholic by scoring a team-high 18 to lead the hosts, who had five players scoring in double digits with a balanced attack.
Even though Chinese Culture won by eight points, the Artists did not go quietly, rallying from as many as 26 down early in the fourth to cut the deficit to less than 10 midway through the quarter behind an incredible scoring spree by Lai Guo-wei, who connected on eight three-pointers in the quarter to set a new UBA record for most threes in a single quarter.
Lai ended up with a career-high 29 points despite the loss.
“I really don’t know what hit me, but the shots just kept going in … it’s hard to explain,” Lai said.
MINGDAO 81, HSING WU 74
Changhua’s Mingdao University bounced back from a shock loss to National Taiwan College of Physical Education the night before to top Hsing Wu College on Tuesday, giving Mingdao their first win in the round-robin Elite Eight round.
The game had its share of drama, with Hsing Wu opening the contest with a 13-0 run that forced Mingdao skipper Chia Fan to call a desperation timeout within the opening minutes.
His pep talk seemed to work wonders as his troops regrouped in a hurry and went on a 19-2 run of their own to take a 19-15 lead, which they did not relinquish en route to a reassuring victory.
Poor rebounding on the part of Hsing Wu gave Mingdao more than 20 second-chance shots off the offensive glass, many of which were put-back buckets, making it virtually impossible for the Hsing Wu defense to compete effectively.
NTNU 92, NTCPE 69
National Taiwan College of Physical Education (NTCPE) proved no match for the defending champs, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in a lopsided decision earlier.
Following their defeat of Mingdao on Monday, the upset-minded NTPE crew hoped to make it two in a row against NTNU.
However, they were stopped in their tracks as NTNU handled their counterparts from Taichung with ease from tip-off to the final buzzer.
FU JEN 76, DIWAN 70
Fu Jen Catholic University picked up their first win in the Elite Eight with a triumph over Tainan’s Diwan University.
Diwan played a decent first half and led for nearly 20 minutes before surrendering the lead right before the half.
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