Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Day 4 - Taiwan NT pounded again

Pounded by Russia 61-88, Taiwan NT dug themselves a big hole by losing the third time in as many games. The defending champion is now 0-3 and hits the bottom of the standings.

Meanwhile, Australia's Great Mates edged SINA 80-73 and is now 3-0. Canada escaped with an 84-83 victory over Philippines' MBA All-Stars. Japan improves day-by-day and scored a come-from-behind win over South Korea 74-67.

Blasted by local media after losing two straight, Taiwan NT finally showed some energy in the opening minutes, leading 11-3 over the Russians. But Russia regrouped and quickly took the lead behind their inside attack. Taiwan NT again showed their inexperience, playing the game like a streetball one-on-one. The game was pretty much over in the middle of the third quarter.

Taiwan NT's 30 fouls and 22 turnovers were bad, what's worse is they lost starting PG Chen Chih-chun, who suffered a sprained ankle in the game. Taiwan will be forced to start 17 year-old Lee Chi-ming, who did relatively good in the 4th quarter replacing Chen, in the next game vs. Philippines.

Philippines almost pulled out an unbelievable win in the matchup vs. Canada, but the early 21-point deficit was too much to overcome. Trio Scherer, Parker and Hall combined for 58 points for the University of Alberta Golden Bears. Canada and Philippines are both now 1-1.

*Game Summary
(@Cheng-kung Univ., Tainan)
Australia 80-73 SINA
Aus - Chris Brown 23p+12rb, Butch Hays 12p+4a, Willie Simmons 8p+8rb
SINA - Lai Kuo-hong 11p+8rb, Tan Bo-chan 11p+6rb

Japan 74-67 South Korea
Jap - Takuya Kita 20p, Atsushi Ono 16p
Kor - Yoon Young-pil 17p+7rb, Hoon Joo-yup 12p

(@TPEC Gym, Taipei)
Canada 84-83 Philippines
Can - Phil Scherer 20p+5a, Stephen Parker 19p, Reuben Hall 19p+14rb
Phi - Bruce Dacia 24p, Alex Compton 24p+7rb+8a, Jeffrey Flowers 7p+5rb

Russia 88-61 Taiwan NT
Rus - Maxim Petserv 17p, Vladimir Pevnev 16p
Tai - Chen Hsin-an 15p, Tien Lei 12p

*Standings
Australia 3-0
Japan 2-1
SINA 2-1
Philippines 1-1
Canada 1-1
Russia 1-2
South Korea 1-2
Taiwan 0-3