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.
Inter on Sunday were given a letoff when they snatched a late 1-1 derby draw with AC Milan, while league leaders SSC Napoli were held by a late goal at AS Roma. Reigning champions Inter remain three points behind Napoli, who looked to be heading five clear as they led in Rome until Angelino volleyed in a stunning leveler in the first minute of stoppage-time. Angelino’s strike gave even more significance to Stefan de Vrij’s last-gasp equalizer at the San Siro. The defender forced home Nicola Zalewski’s knockdown just as it looked like Tijjani Reijnders’ opener would be enough for Milan. “I can
The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets on Saturday did not disappoint in a thrilling midseason matchup in front of a fired-up sellout crowd of more than 18,500 fans. The top two teams in the NHL delivered with a combined nine goals, including the 877th of Alex Ovechkin’s career to put him 18 back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. That tied the score, the Jets pulled it out in overtime and just about everyone involved got their money’s worth out of the 5-4 game. “We knew how we were both sitting in the standings and both having real good years,” Winnipeg coach Scott
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about ￡2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
Less than a week after splashing out a world-record fee for Naomi Girma, Chelsea has spent big again to bring England midfielder Keira Walsh back to the English Women’s Super League. Walsh left European champions Barcelona after more than two years to join Chelsea for a reported ￡400,000 (US$496,000) on Friday. Walsh was the world’s most expensive player for two years after moving to Barcelona from Manchester City for a reported ￡400,000 in 2022. That status now belongs to Girma, the US defender who cost Chelsea a reported ￡900,000 to sign from the San Diego Wave. Still, it means 27-year-old Walsh — a technically
RSS