Sinking a pair of free throws with 0.8 seconds remaining in the game, Chen Hsin-an rallied Taiwan from a one-point deficit to a 75-74 win over Japan in the opener of this year’s East Asia Basketball Championship in Nanjing, China, yesterday afternoon.
The former Yulon Luxgen great, who expanded his professional career to the Chinese Basketball Association by joining the Dongguan Leopards in 2009, made his country proud by taking the ball strong to the hoop as the game clock wound down to earn a trip to the free-throw line, where he calmly converted both attempts to clinch the victory.
The win not only gave Taiwan a big win over their arch rivals to the north, but more importantly, it secured them an inside track to a top-three finish in the six-team competition, which is what it will take for Taiwan to qualify for the upcoming FIBA Asia Championship in Wuhan, China.
Both teams had trouble scoring in the first half as Japan clung to a slight 14-13 lead at the end of the first quarter, before they padded it by four to close out the half with a 32-27 advantage.
Taiwan had a scoring drought nearly that lasted nearly five minutes in the second quarter, which was broken by a basket from James Mao (Pure Youth Construction).
It took an impressive 14-9 run by Taiwan, highlighted by a monstrous three-pointer by Chien Jia-hong (Pure Youth Construction), to bring the contest to a 41-all tie midway through the third quarter, from which point it turned into a seesaw battle all the way to the final seconds, before Chen’s late-game miracle clinched it in the end.
Chen finished the night with a team-high 16 points, while Chien and Wu Dai-hao (Taiwan Beer) each chipped in 15 points to account for the bulk of Taiwan’s scoring.
As for Japan, shooting guard Kawamura Takuya’s 28 points led all scorers on the day even though his team would fall short by one in the losing effort.
Next up for Taiwan is the competitive squad from Mongolia with tip-off scheduled for 4pm this afternoon.
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