Taiwan played a solid second half to top the Philippines 85-69 at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night, starting the Asia University Men’s Basketball Championship on a high note.
The hosts played the Philippines tough in an evenly fought first half that ended 35-33 in favor of Taiwan, but the scale then tipped overwhelmingly in the direction of the local team as they erupted for 28 points in the third quarter to claim a double-digit lead.
That was as close as the Philippines got against the hosts held off an attempted rally by the visitors with several clutch three-pointers as the shot clock wound down to preserve the win.
SOUTH KOREA 89, CHINA 54
Kim Min-goo and Kim Jong-kyu of South Korea’s Kyunghee University combined for 38 of their team’s 89 points as they trounced China in one of the most lopsided wins between the two teams in tournament history.
Against a Chinese lineup that averaged nearly 2m in height, South Korea knew heading into the contest that keeping the tempo of the game as fast as possible would minimize the effect of China’s size advantage.
That was exactly what they did as they ran the ball up and down the court whenever possible, putting up tremendous full-court pressure most of the time to wear down China.
MONGOLIA 73, HONG KONG 67
Overcoming first-half deficits as large as 13 points, Mongolia humbled Hong Kong to nip a three-game losing streak against their opponents in international competitions.
Battuvshin Bulguun’s team-high 23 points led a Mongolia attack that chipped away at the early deficit to get within four points (35-31) by the end of the first half.
Keeping the game close was not all Mongolia had in mind as they pulled to within a deuce of Hong Kong by the end of the third quarter, before rolling off a 7-0 run early in the fourth to take the lead for good.
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