Taiwan rallied from as many as 15 down in the second half, nailing a 36-point fourth to top New Zealand 86-84 at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night to improve to a 5-2 mark in this year’s William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament.
Quincy Davis’ put-back basket off a Lin “the Beast” Chih-chieh miss with the time expiring broke an 84-84 tie to give Taiwan an emotional win.
“We worked too hard to lose the game in the end,” an excited Davis said after the game.
Photo: CNA
His timely bucket avoided what would have been an embarrassing defeat for the hosts, who managed to score only 32 points in a very disappointing first half, digging a hole nearly too deep for them to overcome.
Davis finished with 22 points and nine rebounds to lead Taiwan.
Also starring for Taiwan was swingman Liu Cheng, who netted 15 points on the night, 13 of which came during the second half, to spearhead a valiant comeback rally that left the sellout crowd buzzing.
New Zealand came out firing against a lethargic Taiwan team that shot a dismal seven-for-20 and six-for-19 in the first and second quarter respectively to trail the visitors 42-32 at the half.
However, Taiwan chipped away at the deficit at the start of the fourth after making up some ground in the third to put themselves in a position to mount a comeback.
Japan 72, Taiwan B 55
Trouble continued for Taiwan’s Team B on the penultimate match day as they lost to Japan 72-55 to remain winless at 0-7.
The Taiwan youngsters led the Japanese 34-30 at the half, with a strong eight-point effort by Chou Yi-hsiang in the first half, before losing their shooting touch against a tough Japan defense to lose the lead for good in the game-turning third quarter.
Russia 54, Iran 78
Iran wrapped up a top-place finish with a convincing 78-54 win over Russia thanks to a 31-point third quarter that blew a 35-27 half-time lead wide open in the second half.
Mahdi Kamrani’s eight points an Iran attack that took it strong against Russian, who hung tough against the eventual champs in a solid first half before faltering in the second half.
In yesterday’s other game, the US lost to the Philippines 74-78.
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