Hsing Wu College bounced back nicely from an upset loss at home to Hualien’s National Donghwa University on Tuesday with a convincing 88-72 win over Taipei Physical Education College (TPEC) on Wednesday as first-round action in the University Basketball Association tournament continued at Hsing Wu in Linkuo, Taipei County.
Double-double performances by Lin Yu-yang and Wang Hao-gee — the former with a team-high 21 points and 11 boards, while the latter netted 16 points and 14 boards — proved too much for TPEC to handle as Hsing Wu vented their frustration from the night before by trouncing their opponents.
The hosts trailed TPEC by a point after the first quarter (21-22), before a tough man-to-man defense created some easy baskets to jumpstart their offense in the second quarter, giving Hsing Wu a comfortable 47-32 lead at halftime.
TPEC began the second half with a 10-2 run that pulled them to within seven of Hsing Wu, only to see a total defensive breakdown lead to a 17-3 run by Hsing Wu in the final quarter that put the game out of reach.
It was a big win for 4-3 Hsing Wu in terms of their chances of qualifying for the upcoming Elite Eight as three of their remaining four contests are against opponents with winning records.
“We needed this win more than they did,” Hsung Wu head coach Wang Jin-cheng said after the game.
NTCPE 85, FU JEN CATHOLIC 81
Upset-minded National Taiwan College of Physical Education (NTCPE) pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament so far with an 85-81 shocker against heavily-favored Fu Jen Catholic earlier on Wednesday to keep their chances alive at 3-4.
The future PE instructors from Taichung led the game virtually the entire way against Fu Jen Catholic, thanks to a great outing from Chiou Chi-wei, whose game-high 21 points, including a pair of tie-breaking free-throws in the closing seconds of the contest, helped his team pull off the upset.
After trailing for most of the game, Fu Jen Catholic managed to forced a tie at 75-75 on a clutch three-pointer by Lin Yi-fu with under a minute remaining, but Chiou calmly converted both of his free-throw attempts with 45 seconds left to start a run that sealed victory.
Wednesday’s other results:
• Chinese Culture University 95, National Donghwa University 39
• National Taiwan Normal University 102, National Taiwan Sports University 71
• Mingdao University 77, Diwan University 53
• National Taiwan University of Arts 95, National Kaohsiung Normal University 80
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
DEADLINE DAY: Rennes’ Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off the move due to the Blues’ bloated squad Liverpool on Monday won the race to sign Stade Rennais defender Jeremy Jacquet on the quiet final day of the English Premier League transfer window, while Crystal Palace swooped for Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Jorgen Strand Larsen despite the collapse of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s move to AC Milan. The Reds agreed a reported fee of up to ￡60 million (US$82 million) for the highly rated Jacquet. However, the 20-year-old will not join the Premier League champions until the summer despite Liverpool’s need for defensive reinforcements. Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off
RSS