Taiwan’s college basketball powerhouse National Chengchi University (NCCU) seem poised for another successful season at home after being crowned champions of the World University Basketball Series in Tokyo on Sunday.
The NCCU Griffins, holders of Taiwan’s University Basketball Association (UBA) title for three consecutive years, won the tournament after defeating the Tokai University Seagulls 90-84, with 30 points from captain Mouhamed Lamine Mbaye, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Mbaye said he was happy to win the title after the team fell short last year, adding that his MVP award would not have been possible without his teammates’ efforts, after he fouled out two minutes into the final quarter, the team said in a statement issued yesterday.
Photo courtesy of the Griffins via CNA
The 22-year-old Senegalese joined the squad last summer and made his debut for the Griffins in the world tournament, where the team, playing without then-captain Yu Ai-che, finished third with a 1-2 record.
Yu, the UBA’s 2022-2023 MVP, led NCCU to three consecutive local titles after starting at the university in the summer of 2020. He also led the association in assists and steals during that time.
This year, the top university teams from Taiwan and Japan were pitted against each other in the final of the intercollegiate tournament, expanded this year to eight teams from seven countries and regions.
NCCU reached the final after defeating the US’ Radford University 79-75 in the semi-finals, following an 81-75 win over Japan’s Hakuoh University, who had beaten the Griffins 90-74 last year.
NCCU dominated the first half against Tokai in the final, leaping to a 14-0 lead, which they extended to 54-33 at halftime.
That cushion was cut to eight points in the third quarter as the Seagulls tightened their defense, but sophomore guard Sung Hsin-hao added eight of his 17 points in the final quarter to hold off the Japanese champs.
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