Taiwan proved no match for a much bigger Lebanese squad in round three of Jones Cup play last night, dropping a 93-84 decision to the visitors at the Taipei County Gymnasium in Sinjhuang for their first defeat of the tournament.
The highly anticipated showdown between the hosts and the third-place finishers last year lived up to its billing, with Taiwan playing a fundamentally sound first half despite an obvious size disadvantage to lead the visitors by three points at halftime, before faltering in the second half to lose the game by nine.
Seven first-quarter points by Chen Hsuen-shiang (Bank of Taiwan) sparked a 29-point first quarter that gave Taiwan a surprising 29-18 lead after 10 minutes of play, but Lebanon recovered from their shaky start by exploiting the inside of the paint.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
Big men Jackson Vroman and Daniel Pharis got several easy baskets from close range to cut the once double-digit lead to three (45-42) at the half.
A ferocious low-post attack by the Lebanese finally broke through against a smaller Taiwanese interior defense in the third quarter in which the visitors enjoyed leads as large as a dozen, before back-to-back three-pointers followed by a buzzer-beating deuce by guard Lee Hsueh-lin (Yulon Luxgens) in the final minute of the third quarter kept the deficit to five points.
Taiwan managed to reduce the Lebanese lead further with a big three-pointer from Hong Chih-shang (Pure Youth Construction) to fall within two of the visitors and they had a chance to tie the game at 74-74 when Hong took the ball strong to the hoop on a fast-break opportunity early in the fourth.
That was as close as the hosts got as Hong’s shot never found its way to the basket and Lebanon went on a 6-0 run of their own to retake an eight-point lead.
Vroman led all scorers with 24 points on the night, while Lee led the Taiwanese with 22 points in a gutsy performance.
Failure to secure the defensive glass due to the size disadvantage ultimately cost Taiwan the game as Lebanon out-rebounded the hosts by a huge 47-24 margin, including 17 off the offensive glass.
Next up for Taiwan will be Japan in what should be an evenly matched contest at 7pm this evening.
A win by Taiwan would improve their record to 3-1, while a loss would push them into a tie with Japan at 2-2.
IRAN 77, JAPAN 73
Samad Bahrami’s game-high 34 points outdid Japanese great Kawamura Takuya’s team-high 25 in a 77-73 win for the undefeated defending champions from Iran in the early afternoon game yesterday.
PHILIPPINES 90, CROCS 64
The Philippines had little trouble against Australia’s Townsville Crocodiles yesterday, downing the winless Australians 90-64 to stay in the hunt for this year’s title.
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