Overcoming fourth-quarter deficits as large as eight points, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology pulled off a 12-2 run in the final 3 minutes, 30 seconds of play to upset Fu Jen Catholic University 68-66 in front of a stunned home crowd at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City last night.
The victory not only gave the underdogs back-to-back wins over heavily favored opponents for two straight days, following their shock victory over defending champions National Taiwan University of Arts the previous night, but it also put the Techies on track to accomplish a mission impossible by becoming the first wild-card team to qualify for the UBA Finals.
With the intent to show that their win over the Artists on Monday night was no fluke, the Techies opened the game with a 24-13 lead in the first quarter, only to see Fu Jen answer with a 21-9 run in the second to put the hosts in a 34-33 lead at halftime.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
However, that did not dampen the Techies’ urge to prove themselves as they reclaimed a 52-41 advantage after three quarters of play, before Fu Jen countered with a 23-4 run early in the fourth to grab a seemingly comfortable 64-56 lead with 3:30 remaining in the contest.
That was when the underdogs decided to take their game up a notch. Yu Yu-hsiang and Peng Hsin-yuan by drained a pair of three-pointers to fall within two, before Fan Jing-chen tacked on a basket from inside the paint to knot it at 64-64.
The Techies scored the next four points to go up 68-64 and then held off an all-or-nothing rally by Fu Jen in the closing seconds to escape with the narrow victory.
In yesterday’s other games, Mingdao University eased past National Taiwan Sport University 69-52; Shoufu University defeated Chinese Culture University 82-75; National Taiwan Normal University thrashed National Kaohsiung Normal University 81-52; Hsing Wu University crushed Shih Hsin University 91-70; and I-Shou University handed reigning champions National Taiwan University of Arts their second straight defeat by edging their contest 89-82.
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