Hsing Wu College played their best game of the tournament so far, with a sound 82-78 win over favored Fu Jen Catholic University on Thursday night in the annual University Basketball Association (UBA) tournament to secure a berth in the second round of play.
With three of their four remaining contests against opponents with winning records heading into Thursday night’s contest, Hsing Wu needed to win at least two of the four games to qualify for the second round. That was exactly what skipper Wang Jin-cheng and his crew accomplished in front of a sellout home crowd, thanks to a great effort by forward Lin Yu-yang, whose second straight double-double (18 points and 11 rebounds) paved the way for the victory.
Also starring for Hsing Wu was Hsu Ching-fong, whose game-high 19 points and six assists kept the Fu Jen defense off balance all night despite playing with four fouls for a good part of the second half.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Inability to penetrate Hsing Wu’s 2-3 zone defense, which featured a no-guard lineup, shut down the perimeter game that had been crucial to Fu Jen’s prior success.
NATIONAL DONGHWA UNIVERSITY 97, TAIPEI PHYSICAL EDUCATION 83
Upset-minded National Donghwa University upped their chances of making it into the second round with a 97-83 come-from-behind win over Taipei Physical Education College earlier on Thursday to improve to a 4-4 record.
The group of no-namers that arrived in Taipei from Hualien last week vented their frustration from a blowout loss to Chinese Culture University the night before by topping Taipei Physical Education in a key victory.
It was the second upset win for National Donghwa after they shocked Hsing Wu on Tuesday in a 113-102 triumph.
Five straight missed shots in the opening minutes dug National Donghwa into a 0-10 hole, but it did not rattle the warriors from the East as they went on a 13-1 run of their own to trail the future PE instructors 15-18 by the end of the first quarter.
With momentum on their side, National Donghwa played an evenly fought second quarter before turning it up against Taipei Physical Education in the third to eventually win it by 14.
“We have always been a slow-starting team, so I am not too surprised,” National Donghwa head coach Lin Rue-han said.
His team needs to win only one of their three remaining contests to qualify for the second round.
Thursday’s other results:
• National Taiwan Sports University 83, Diwan University 75
Chinese Culture University 77, National Taiwan University of Arts 60
• Mingdao University 82, National Kaohsiung Normal University 61
• National Taiwan Normal University 106, National Taiwan College of Physical Education 89
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