197cm F Lee Chi-yi scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half, helping BCC Mars to a 61-54 victory and the sixth and final seed in the second round games on February 10. Bank of Taiwan also managed a 59-58 win over Yulon Dinos, but finishing one win short behind Mars and was eliminated.
Lee Chi-yi score two baskets in the last two minutes and F San Mao-sun made two free-throws to ice the victory for Mars. Mars finished with a 5-4 record in the preliminaries and grabbed the last ticket to the second round. SINA was 7-2 in the preliminaries.
Bank of Taiwan, who trailed Yulon by two points in the last minute, walked away with an unbelievable win thanks to 19 year-old PG Hsu Hao-chen's buzzer-beating three-pointer. But BT's 4-5 record was still one win behind Mars.
Military beat Dacin 74-55 in the third game. Military's PG Yen Shin-shu was brilliant as always, finishing with 14 points, 9 assists and 4 steals. F Hong Chan-chin scored 23. Dacin didn't take this game serious, since they're already in the second round. Star guard Cheng Chih-lung did not play.
Top six teams in the preliminaries advance to second round and will play yet another single-round robin, starting from February 11. Playoffs will feature the top 4 teams in the second round games.
■Preliminaries Final Standings
(Top six advance to second round)
Team W-L GB
x-SINA 7-2 -
x-Dacin 6-3 1
x-Jutai Tech 6-3 1
x-Military 6-3 1
x-Yulon 5-4 2
x-Mars 5-4 2
Bank of Taiwan 4-5 3
Luckipar 3-6 4
Taiwan Beer 2-7 5
Yitong 1-8 6
(thru Feb 10)
Format:Single-round robin
x-Advance to 2nd RD
■Preliminaries Stats Leaders
Scoring - Lo Shin-liang (SINA) 18.9ppg
3-PT percentage - Lo Shin-liang (SINA) .442(19 for 43)
Assists - Yen Shin-shu (Military) 6.7apg
Steals - Yen Shin-shu (Military) 3.8 spg
Rebounding - Huang Chun-hsiung (SINA) 7.8rpg
Blocks - Lin Che-wei (Jutai Tech) 2.2bp