This year’s Taiwan Strait Tournament opened at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium in Tianmu yesterday with the Yulon Luxgens edging the Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards in a 71-68 thriller.
Lu Cheng-rue’s three-pointer with 33 seconds remaining turned a one-point deficit into a two-point lead for the Luxgens, as they held off a late-game rally by the Leopards to escape with a narrow victory.
Also starring for the Luxgens were Chou Shih-yuan and Chen Shan-mei, whose 33 combined points accounted for nearly half of the score posted by a Yulon squad whose top priority this season is to revamp an inside attack after the departure of all-star center Tseng Wen-ding to the Chinese Basketball Association.
Photo courtesy of the CTBA
The Leopards are looking to build on last season’s success with newcomer Luke Nevill from Australia and skipper Cheng Chih-lung said he was relatively pleased with his team’s performance, despite the loss.
“We accomplished our goal for the game, which was to test-run some offensive and defensive schemes with the new guys in the lineup,” Cheng said after the game.
Nevill led all scorers with 21 points and 11 rebounds in a double-double effort for his new team.
NEW CENTURY 85, PURE YOUTH 80
Pure Youth Construction were no match for the visiting Dongguan New Century in their tournament opener, dropping a tight decision to start the exhibition season on a sour note.
Newly acquired three-point threat Chen Tzu-wei made a big splash in his Pure Youth debut by leading the defending Super Basketball League champs with 16 points.
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