Overcoming fourth-quarter deficits as large as eight points, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology pulled off a 12-2 run in the final 3 minutes, 30 seconds of play to upset Fu Jen Catholic University 68-66 in front of a stunned home crowd at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City last night.
The victory not only gave the underdogs back-to-back wins over heavily favored opponents for two straight days, following their shock victory over defending champions National Taiwan University of Arts the previous night, but it also put the Techies on track to accomplish a mission impossible by becoming the first wild-card team to qualify for the UBA Finals.
With the intent to show that their win over the Artists on Monday night was no fluke, the Techies opened the game with a 24-13 lead in the first quarter, only to see Fu Jen answer with a 21-9 run in the second to put the hosts in a 34-33 lead at halftime.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
However, that did not dampen the Techies’ urge to prove themselves as they reclaimed a 52-41 advantage after three quarters of play, before Fu Jen countered with a 23-4 run early in the fourth to grab a seemingly comfortable 64-56 lead with 3:30 remaining in the contest.
That was when the underdogs decided to take their game up a notch. Yu Yu-hsiang and Peng Hsin-yuan by drained a pair of three-pointers to fall within two, before Fan Jing-chen tacked on a basket from inside the paint to knot it at 64-64.
The Techies scored the next four points to go up 68-64 and then held off an all-or-nothing rally by Fu Jen in the closing seconds to escape with the narrow victory.
In yesterday’s other games, Mingdao University eased past National Taiwan Sport University 69-52; Shoufu University defeated Chinese Culture University 82-75; National Taiwan Normal University thrashed National Kaohsiung Normal University 81-52; Hsing Wu University crushed Shih Hsin University 91-70; and I-Shou University handed reigning champions National Taiwan University of Arts their second straight defeat by edging their contest 89-82.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set