Falling to a quicker and more aggressive Japanese squad, Taiwan dropped their second straight game in as many days by a 94-85 margin in Day 4 of Jones Cup play at the Taipei County Gymnasium in Sinjhuang last night to even its record at 2-2.
The much-anticipated showdown between guards Lee Hsueh-lin (Yulon Luxgens) of Taiwan and Japan’s former NBA player Tabuse Yuta lived up to its billing, with the former showing off his tremendous agility and perimeter game, while the latter wowed the crowd with several no-look passes and outstanding field of vision in directing Japan to the big win.
“Taiwan is a good team, so we had to stay aggressive the entire game,” Tabuse said. “He [Lee] is such a great player; it’s fun to play against him,” Tabuse said.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Much like their game against Lebanon on Friday evening, Taiwan jumped to a quick start in last night’s contest, downing 28 first-quarter points behind an 11-point effort by Chang Tsung-hsien to lead the Japanese 28-24 after the opening frame.
Japan recovered from a slow start by showing off its quickness with several fast-break points and the deadly outside game by Kawamura Takuya to reduce the deficit before claiming its first lead of the game, 43-42 at the three minute, 32 second mark in the second quarter.
Japan went up by as many as eight points midway through the third (57-49) with Kawamura and Tabuse leading the attack, before Yang Jing-min (Taiwan Beer) sparked a 7-0 run to bring Taiwan to within one point of the visitors.
Japan quickly countered with a 5-0 run of their own to claim a sizable lead en route to a convincing win.
Kawamura led all scorers with 25 for Japan, while Yang topped the Taiwanese scoring with 20. Lee did not have a big game as far as his point total, but his on-court presence was just as crucial.
Taiwan will take on the Philippines in a must-win game at 7pm this evening. A loss by the hosts would drop them out of title contention with their hopes of a top-four finish seemingly bleak as well.
IRAN 79, LEBANON 71
A 26-7 run by Iran in the fourth quarter was difference in the game as the defending champs rallied past Lebanon in a 79-71 win to remain unbeaten with a perfect 3-0 mark.
Samad Bahrami continued his scoring spree with a game-high 30 points for the victors in a win that moved Iran toward their quest for a win.
TAIWAN COLLEGE ALL-STARS 88, TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES 77
The Taiwan College All-Stars picked up their first win of the tournament by downing Townsville Crocodiles 88-77 earlier yesterday afternoon.
Unlike the final score suggested, the All-Stars actually trailed for most of the game against a more experienced Aussie crew, before a 14-2 run in the decisive fourth turned the tide in their favor for good.
Chou Bo-cheng led the local boys with 23 points and eight rebounds, while Damian Matacz led all scorers with a game-high 28 for the visitors.
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