Taiwan HS All-Stars' full-court press and balanced attack overcame Rakunan's "Twin Tower" as Taiwan HS All-Stars beat Rakunan 83-59 in the opening game of the 2002 International HS Invitational Tournament. Whimoon HS of Korea edged Tsaishin 81-76 in the other matchup.
Taiwan HS All-Stars use the full-court press for the entire 40 minutes to force Rakunan into 36 turnovers. Leading by one in the half and 10 in the end of the third quarter, All-Stars pulled the game out of reach in the last 10 minutes. Most of their points came from fastbreak layups off the steals. Chang Yi-wen, Lee Yi-pin, Wu Jun-hsiung and Hsu Shih-ching each scored 11 points.
Rakunan was led by twin brothers Kosuke(203cm) and Joji(201cm) Takeuchi. They were able to hang on with Taiwan HS All-Stars in the first 25 minutes. But too many turnovers hurt them down the stretch.
Whimoon HS led for most of the game. With forward Kim Sun-ki, who had 23 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists in the game, breaking down the defense and scoring in traffic again and again, Whimoon overcame Tsaishin's furious rally in the closing minutes for the first win. PG Shin Jae-rok also knocked down many timely baskets to keep Whimoon in front.
Using their height advantage, Whimoon benefited from the free-throw line, shooting 13 for 27. Tsaishin was hurt by its poor shooting percentage, shooting only 26 for 64 from the two-point range and 32 for 90 in the game.
**Note
Rakunan is the semifinalist in 2002 Japan's High School Tournament, which just finished on August 7. Whimoon HS is Korea's national champion this year. Tsaishin HS also won the title in Taiwan's HBL this year, but they are without the service of two bigmen - Tsun Wen-din and Wu Dai-hao. Tsun and Wu are both with Taiwan NT, who's preparing for the upcoming Asian Games.
**Game Summary
Men:
Whimoon 81-76 Tsaishin(Half 46-36)
Whimoon - Kim Sun-ki 23p+7rb+5a, Shin Jae-rok 15p+6rb+5a, Kim Jin-su 12p, Kim Jae-hwan 10p+12rb
Tsaishin - Chen Hao-tze 25p, Chen Shi-jay 13p+6rb, Jian Jia-hong 7p+11rb
HS All-Stars 83-59 Rakunan(Half 37-36)
HS All-Stars - Chang Yi-wen 11p+4a+4s, Lee Yi-pin 11p, Hsu Shih-ching 11p, Wu Jun-hsiung 11p, Chen Shi-nian 8p+5a+8s
Rakunan - Kosuke Takeuchi 16p+9rb, Joji Takeuchi 10p+8rb, Kohei Namoto 9p
Women:
Tamshui 69-52 Eunkwang
HS All-Stars 70-68 Japan All-Stars