Preliminary-round action continued in the annual University Basketball Association tournament at National Kaohsiung Normal University yesterday afternoon with Changhua’s Mingdao University baffling Taipei’s Shih Hsin University in a 60-42 final.
The win not only clinched a berth in the next round for Mingdao, it also breathed new life into the team, who lost their former head coach (Chia Fan) to the Taiwan Mobile Leopards of the Super Basketball League earlier this year and are in desperate need of finding another leader amid a down year.
“Even though we won by a landslide, there were still a lot of issues in our game that we’ll have to address in a hurry before we can consider ourselves in the same league as the top teams,” Mingdao’s rookie skipper Shen Hsin-han said after the game.
Shen has some big shoes as Chia, who single-handedly took Mingdao from a group of unkowns to legitimate title-contenders in two seasons.
Mingdao opened the match with a swarming 11-2 run behind the solid play of Chou Po-hsun and never looked back as they led by as many as 26, before sending in the reserves for a good part of the fourth quarter en route to an easy victory.
Chou led the team with 10 points and a dozen boards.
FU JEN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY 98, NAT’L CHUNG HSING UNIVERSITY 88
Sparked by a 20-2 run in the third quarter that turned a five-point deficit into a 13-point advantage, Fu Jen Catholic University rallied to beat National Chung Hing University of Greater Taichung by a 10-point margin in the second game in Greater Kaohsiung yesterday afternoon.
Outstanding three-point shooting by Chung Hsing, who set a new school mark for most threes in a game with 14, actually kept the underdogs from Taichung shoulder-to-shoulder against favorites Fu Jen.
However, Chung Hsing’s luck ran out in the third after Fu Jen altered their defense to counter Chung Hsing’s outside attack, which sparked a game-turning 20-2 run for Fu Jen.
That was more than enough for Fu Jen as they maintained a double-digit cushion for a good part of the second half to pocket the easy win.
Huang Chen had a career day for Fu Jen with 28 points and 23 rebounds, while Chung Hsing’s Chang Hsueh-hao led all scorers with 29 on the day.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was