Lin “The Beast” Chih-chieh banked in a layup with 21 seconds left in the game to put Team Taiwan ahead for good, as they held on to topple undefeated Jordan 77-75 last night in a heated contest at the William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City.
Lin’s spinning drive to the basket was a moment of grace in a game that was full of sloppy play.
The fourth quarter saw a benches-clearing scuffle after Jordan’s Islam Abbass grabbed a defense rebound and swung the ball into the face of Taiwan’s Ho Sho-cheng. Ho’s teammates took exception to the swipe and the ensuing melee delayed the game for several minutes as the referees sorted out the fouls and ejections.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Moment’s later, Jordan’s dominant offensive star Zaid Abbas was ejected from the game after he vehemently disagreed with a foul that was called against him for pushing Chen Hsin-an. Zaid Abbas called for the refs to look at the video replay, which appeared to support his case that Chen took a dive.
Team Taiwan got off to a fast start, jumping out to an 11-2 lead less than three minutes into the contest thanks to a pair of threes and aggressive defense. However, Taiwan’s hot hands quickly cooled as they held onto a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started much like the first, with Taiwan catching fire and pushing their lead to 12 points, before a run by Jordan to finish the first half was capped off by Zaid Abbas’ fade-away three pointer from the corner at the buzzer to knot the game at 34-34 heading into halftime.
Taiwan’s Tseng Wen-ding had an up-and-down night, but his three-pointer with less then three minutes to play erased Jordan’s lead and set up the thrilling finish.
The win moves Tawain to 3-1 and into a tie for second. They next play the United Arab Emirates.
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