Unable to defend against a taller lineup from the Philippines, Taiwan dropped a 96-93 heartbreaker in overtime in Game 5 of Jones Cup play at the Taipei County Gymnasium in Sinjhuang last night for its third defeat of the tournament.
Taiwan rallied from deficits as large as a dozen in the fourth quarter, capped by Chen Hsuen-hsiang’s (Bank of Taiwan) game-tying three with 18.7 second remaining in regulation time. The home hosts showed no signs of intimidation against a much bigger Filipino lineup led by 211cm center Marcus Douthit before faltering in the final seconds to lose this one by three in overtime.
Taiwan had a final chance at tying the game late in overtime after a no-call by officials on an apparent travelling violation by Philippine’s Joseph Casio that would have given the home team one final possession.
The Philippines had the upper hand early on, leading the Taiwanese nationals by three after one quarter.
The hosts came from behind to tie the game at 34-all at the half with Chen Tzu-wei and Chen Hsuen-hsiang netting eleven points apiece in the first half.
A 9-1 run by the Philippines upped the visitors’ lead to eight points (58-50) in the third before the home team answered with an 8-0 run to tie the game at 58-all early in the fourth.
Three misses from close range, coupled with back-to-back transition baskets by the Philippines upped the visitors’ lead to a dozen midway through the fourth, setting the stage for the comeback rally that forced the game into overtime.
Lebanon 96,
Taiwan College All-Stars 66
Lebanon proved too strong and poised for the Taiwan College All-Stars, skidding past the local school boys with an outstanding second half to run away with a 96-66 blowout win yesterday afternoon.
The win upped the Lebanese record to 3-1 over the first four games, virtually guaranteeing them a second-place finish with the Philippine and Australia remaining on their scheduler.
The best and brightest from Taiwan’s colleges managed to hang with the visitors by keeping the deficit under 10 in the first half (47-39), but failed to sustain their momentum as they succumbed to a potent Lebanese attack in a lopsided second half to lose this one long before the final buzzer sounded.
Iran 84, Townsville Crocodiles 54
Iran had little trouble against a weaker Townsville squad from Down Under, overpowering the Crocodiles in an 84-54 final to remain unbeaten at 4-0.
Samad Bahrami watched most of the game from the bench as head coach Veselin Matic rested his top scorer to give his reserve players more floor time, leaving the floor to forward Samad Dazarpanah.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB