With three games on the last day to play, five teams including SINA, Dacin, Jutai Tech, Yulon and Military have clinched their second rounds seeds. The lone undecided second round seed will go to Taiwan Bank or Mars, depending on the last-minute result.
Mars(4-4) will face SINA in their last preliminary game and it's hard for them to pull out a win. If Mars grab their fifth win, they will lock up the final seed.For Bank of Taiwan(3-5) to make it to the second round, first they have to beat Yulon today and hope for a Mars loss. If both teams tie at 4-5, BT will advance because they beat Mars by eight points in previous head-to-head matchup.
During the preliminaries, SINA, Dacin and Jutai Tech stand out among others. It will be a surprise if one of the finalists does not come from the three teams. SINA cruised thru the preliminaries, although they were shocked by last-place Yitong, but it's virtually a game which they play second-string players for almost the entire game.
Dacin and Jutai also had several surprising defeats. However, both teams are loaded with talented players and they will definitely upgrade their "competitive desire" in the upcoming second round.
Rumors said Luckipar team will be dismissed after the preliminaries. Taiwan is currently hit with financial difficulties and many corporates decided to drop out of the sports sponsorship, which cost them some money. This is another sad news for Taiwanese basketball.
■Game Summary
2/5
Military 60-48 Luckipar
Military - Chun Wei-kuo 17p, 5a ; Yen Shin-shu 15p
Dacin 64-58 Taiwan Bank
Bank of Taiwan went scoreless for 3 1/2 minutes in the last five minutes, allowed Dacin rallied from behind. Dacin's 198cm C Ha Hsiao-yung led with 15p and 9 rebounds. 198cm F Lee Feng-yung collected 13 and 5, while veteran Chu Chih-chin turned in a 12 and 12. Taiwan Bank was led by Lo Da-wei's 20 points.
Yulon 77-54 Mars
SINA 70-54 Jutai Tech
SINA held Jutai scoreless for more than seven minutes in the second half and clinched the win with a 16-0 run. Lo Shin-liang led SINA with 31 points. SINA also got 12 points and 12 rebounds from 190cm F Shun Jen-jen(Bear).
2/6
Mars 74-64 Yitong
SINA 60-56 Taiwan Beer(Half 23-27)
Taiwan Beer's Lin Jia-shen missed both of his free-throws with 23.1 seconds to play. SINA used a 11-1 run in the second half to the come-from-behind win for the second consecutive night.
SINA - Lo Shin-liang 18p ; Huang Chun-hsiung 12p, 13rb
TB - Lin Chih-jay 15p
Dacin 55-50 Jutai Tech
2/7
Mars 62-41 Taiwan Beer
Mars - Lin Jia-huang 20p
TB - Sun Kuo-chan 12p, 9rb
Yitong 69-66 SINA(Half 35-27)
Last-place Yitong shocked SINA with its first win of the preliminaries. Pang Yun-han secured the win for Yitong when he blocked Chou Jun-san's shot and scored on a fastbreak in the last minute. Lo Shin-liang led SINA with 23p, 5rb, 6a and 5s.
Yulon 48-41 Military
Yulon - Chen Hsin-an 15p
Military - Yen Shin-shu 12p, 6a, 4s
Luckipar 57-40 Taiwan Bank
2/8
Luckipar 66-50 Taiwan Beer
Luckipar - Chang Chi-feng 15p ; Lai Kuo-hong 12p, 12rb
TB - Chang Hsien-ming 18p
Mars 53-47 Dacin
Mars - Chen Huei 13p ; Lee Chi-yi 13p
Dacin - Cheng Chih-lung 13p
Jutai Tech 60-58 Yitong(Half 34-20)
Yitong nearly pulled off another stunner, but Jutai escaped with Yang Yu-min's two free-throws with 2.9 seconds remaining.
SINA 51-42 Military
2/9
Dacin 81-65 Yitong
Dacin - Cheng Chan-jun 34p(7 3-PT) ; Chu Chih-chin 12p ; Ha Hsiao-yun 12p
Yulon 62-47 Luckipar
Yulon - Chen Hsin-an 31p
Luckipar - Lai Kuo-hong 14p
Taiwan Bank 75-67 Jutai Tech
TB - Lo Da-wei 30p, 12rb
Juati - Yang Yu-min 24p
Military 74-58 Taiwan Beer
Military - Yen Shin-shu 15p, 9a, 4s ; Hong Chan-chin 13p
TB - Chang Hsien-min 25p
■Standings (thru Feb.9)
x-SINA 7-1
x-Dacin 6-2
x-Jutai Tech 6-3
x-Military 5-3
x-Yulon 5-3
Mars 4-4
Taiwan Bank 3-5
y-Luckipar 3-6
y-Taiwan Beer 2-7
y-Yitong 1-8
x-clinched 2nd round seeds
y-eliminated