Taiwan A improved to a 3-0 record with an 84-80 win over Taiwan B in their third game of this year’s William Jones Cup at the University of Taipei Gymnasium in Tianmu last night.
The win did not come as easily as expected for Taiwan A as Taiwan B held second-half leads as large as 19 points before succumbing to a high-pressure defense in the fourth quarter to lose by four.
“Our pressure defense really disrupted [Taiwan B’s] ball flow and offensive rhythm, which gave our offense a chance to come back,” top scorer and the hero of the fourth quarter Chang Tsung-hsien said after the game.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
His game-high 23 points helped Taiwan A avoid what would have been an embarrassing loss to the nation’s second-choice players.
Playing without two of their regular starters — captain Quincy Davis and sharpshooter Yang Chin-min — to create room on the roster for two reserve players, Taiwan A fell behind by six at halftime.
The deficit would increase to as large as 19 points with Taiwan B doing everything right, and Taiwan A committing unforced errors and several mental mistakes in the third quarter, but fortunately for Taiwan A their high-pressure defense proved effective just in time to spark an all-out rally in the fourth quarter to save the day.
Trailing by three with less than 10 seconds remaining, Taiwan B had one final chance to tie the game with Pan Kuan-han’s desperation shot, but it bounced off the rim to seal the win for Taiwan A.
IRAN 65, EGYPT 62
The defending champions broke a 30-29 halftime lead wide open with a 22-13 scoring differential in the decisive third quarter, before holding off a fourth-quarter rally by Egypt to escape with a tight win in Tianmu yesterday afternoon.
The victory gave Iran two wins in a row following their tough loss to the US in their opener on Saturday as they posted a 2-1 record.
JORDAN 81, JAPAN 63
A 10-0 run in the first four-and-a-half minutes of the second half sparked what ended up being a 25-7 run for Jordan in the third quarter as they roughed up Japan to run away with the game yesterday afternoon.
Ahmad Mustafa Alhamarsheh led all scorers with 23 points for Jordan as they remained undefeated at 3-0 heading into this afternoon’s match against the US.
In other Jones Cup action, it was: US 93, South Korea 77
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