Failure to hold on to a hard-earned lead in the fourth quarter cost Team Taiwan the game against Kazakhstan yesterday afternoon in the consolation round of Jones Cup play as the hosts lost 66-56 at the Taipei County Sinjhuang Gymnasium.
Kazakhstan led the game by a deuce at the half and decided to exploit Taiwan’s weaker interior defense early in the third, opening up leads as large as nine points, only to find Taiwan countering with a 14-6 run of its own to close out the third quarter with a surprising one-point lead.
Taiwan increased its lead by as many as five points in the fourth quarter before an all-too-familiar collapse in the final minutes fed right into a gruesome 17-2 Kazakhstan run, leaving Taiwan 10 points behind in the end.
Inappropriate substitution on the part of skipper Chung Kwang-Suk might have played a part in Taiwan’s late-game collapse.
Chung might have left a few of his fast-fatiguing players in the game too long, opening up several easy scoring opportunities for Kazakhstan in the deciding moments of the game.
USA 102, TAIWAN 86
On Wednesday, outplayed by a superior US squad in every facet of the game, Team Taiwan dropped its sixth straight game in the competition by a 102-86 margin to close out the preliminary round with a disappointing 1-6 mark.
Even though the outcome of the contest did not go the way Taiwan had hoped, the home team did give the Americans a run for their money by hanging tough during the first half to keep the deficit to a single digit (52-44) before the foreigners pulled away in the second half to wrap up the win.
Leading the attack for Taiwan with 15 second-quarter points on a game-high, 29-point night was power forward Yang Jing-min (Taiwan Beer), who showed incredible range by taking the ball strong to the hoop on several occasions while nailing jumpers from the perimeters to keep the US team’s defense honest.
Also starring for Taiwan with a dozen hard-earned points were speedy guard Lee Hsueh-lin (Yulon Dinos) and forward Lin Jin-bang (Bank of Taiwan), who muscled his way down below for 11 tough points and four assists.
As for the USA, represented by evangelical group Athletes in Action, which finished out the preliminaries with a 6-1 record to qualify for the No. 1 seed in the semi-finals, Laval Lucas-Perry led the way with 22 points, followed by Brett Winkelman’s 21.
YESTERDAY’S OTHER GAMES
In yesterday’s other matches, Jordan continued their fine run with a 73-60 victory over the Australians, while the USA completed their march to the finals with a hard-fought 97-90 win over Qatar. It was the Qataris’ highest-scoring game, but not enough to stop the marauding US side.
TODAY’S GAMES
The USA will play Jordan in tonight’s intriguing final, with Australia facing Qatar in the playoff for third place.
Taiwan is scheduled to take on South Korea in the battle for seventh place at 1pm in the consolation round, after South Korea fell to a tough Egyptian team in the other game of the consolation round earlier yesterday.
Revenge will undoubtedly be on South Korea’s mind since it dropped the opener to Taiwan last Thursday and had to settle for an eighth-place finish in the preliminaries, despite finishing the seven-game stretch with a 1-6 record, identical to that of Taiwan.
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday pulled off a major upset in the DFB-Pokal by defeating defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 in their semi-final. The third-division team came from behind after Jonathan Tah gave the visitors a 17th-minute lead. Marius Worl replied three minutes later and Maximilian Groser scored Bielefeld’s second goal just before the break. The home team looked more likely to add to that tally as the Leverkusen players looked jaded. “I’m just proud of this team,” Bielefeld coach Mitch Kniat said as most of the fans the small stadium sang around him. “No one will sleep in the city tonight.” Patrik Schick went
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS