The Taoyuan Pauian Pilots last night lost their East Asia Super League (EASL) championship game against Japan’s Hiroshima Dragonflies 72-68.
They on Friday secured Taiwan’s first-ever spot in an EASL final with a 71-64 comeback victory over Japan’s Ryukyu Golden Kings.
In what the EASL official Web site described as an “upset,” Pilots forward Lu Chun-hsiang on Friday asserted his stardom in Macau by scoring a game-high 24 points, with four players in both teams reaching double figures.
Photo: The Taoyuan Pauian Pilots via CNA
The win was also the first time a Taiwanese franchise has defeated a Japanese team in the EASL Final Four.
“I was moved to tears just now, because we all played so hard, fought together and were able to win,” said Lu, who led the EASL with three Fans’ Most Valuable Player of the Month awards this season.
As usual, Lu credited his teammates, saying that “you could see that all of us played all-out on the court, as if it were our last game.”
Although the Pilots had once led by 16 points, the game went down to the wire in the final six minutes when Ryuichi Kishimoto sank a step-back three-pointer to put the Golden Kings ahead 60-58.
However, the Pilots responded with a 9-0 run over the next five minutes, overcoming a 20-6 deficit in offensive rebounds that saw the Golden Kings have 22 more field goal attempts.
Lu dedicated the win to the Pilots’ fans.
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