Squandering a fourth-quarter lead with a slew of miscues, Taiwan A could not overcome South Korea in the title game of this year’s William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament, falling 83-79 to the visitors at the University of Taipei Gymnasium in Tianmu last night and finishing second overall.
The highly anticipated showdown between the hosts and South Korea, winners of the last meeting between the two teams in the final game of the preliminaries, saw Taiwan fall behind by double-digits after a dismal first quarter on both ends of the floor, before recovering to 41-31 at halftime.
However, with some tenacious defense and by maintaining their composure, Taiwan A were able to come back from deficits as large as 14 points in the third quarter with a brilliant 18-5 run late in the period to take a 55-52 lead at the break.
Photo: CNA
That was the end of the hosts’ run, as the visitors came up with clutch baskets on several occasions from veteran scorers Ricardo Ratliffe and Moon Tae-young, while Taiwan A committed numerous unforced turnovers in the decisive fourth.
Failure to convert on the free-throw line also devastated the hosts, who went 15-for-24 from the charity stripe to miss a golden opportunity to keep the trophy in the nation.
TAIWAN B 73, JAPAN 71
Photo: CNA
In the battle for the fifth place, Taiwan B needed overtime to defeat Japan yesterday afternoon.
A pair of long three-pointers by Chen Ying-chun, and Chou Yi-hsiang’s clutch basket inside the paint in the closing seconds proved too much for Japan to handle as they had to settle for a sixth-place finish.
After an evenly fought first half that saw Japan led Taiwan 32-30 at the half, the home team took their game up a notch and outscored Japan 16-8 to lead by as many as eight midway through the third.
However, poor ball handling by Taiwan B gave Japan an opportunity to rally from as many as six down late in regulation time.
EGYPT 81, US 78
In the bronze-medal game, Egypt overcame a four-point deficit in the fourth quarter against the US and held on to relegate the US to a fourth-place finish overall.
IRAN 84, JORDAN 79
Defending champions Iran avoided a last-place finish in the battle for seventh place by outmuscling Jordan 84-79 down the stretch to finish off the tournament on a high note.
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