Friday, November 25, 2005

Sina Lions change team name to YMY

Sina Lions inked a major sponsorship deal with YMY ( http://www.ymy.com.tw ) and will change its name to YMY in the 2005-06 season.

Sina, which is owned by Sina.com president Daniel Jiang personally, underwent a rebuilding process starting from last season, when it released most of its veterans and played through the season with a young squad. Word is Jiang had trouble investing more money on the team and had been looking for selling the team or securing sponsorships.

After reaching the SBL Finals in inaugural 2003-04 season, Sina stumbled to 3-27 last year. Adding Chien Jia-hong and Zuo Tsun-kai, both top high school players at their positions, YMY is looking for a better finish this season.

Sina staff will still be in charge of all basketball operations.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Wu Dai-hao starts US college career at BYU-Hawaii

Wu Dai-hao launched his U.S. college career at BYU-Hawaii in the Asia-Pacific Tournament last week. Wu is still getting accustomed to the new environment, teaching and teammates. He had 15 points and 6 rebounds in two Seasiders wins.
 
In his U.S. college debut on November 11th, Wu had 6 points and 4 rebounds on 2 of 3 shooting in 18 minutes in BYUH blowout win over China’s Huaqiao University, 127-57.
 
Wu had 9 points, two rebounds and committed six turnovers in the second game vs. Yonsei University, No.1 powerhouse of South Korea college basketball. BYUH edged Yonsei 90-86.
 
Six teams entered the Asia-Pacific Tournament: BYUH, Yonsei Univ., Huaqiao Univ., De La Salle of Philippines, Maori Select Team of New Zealand and Melbourne Tigers of Australia.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Chen Hsin-an to sit out 05-06 season

Min-shen Daily reported Chen Hsin-an, who remains unsigned amid the contract dispute with ETSN Antelopes, will sit out the entire 2005-06 SBL season to nurse his knee injury. Chen will probably go to the U.S. minor league once again to look for opportunities.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Taiwan beat Japan to win second EAG gold

Tien Lei made two game-clinching free-throws with 3.6 seconds remaining as Taiwan edged Japan 60-55 in East Asian Games title game and won its second EAG gold medal.

Taiwan won its first gold medal in 1997 Busan EAG and got silver in 2001 EAG in Osaka, Japan.

The gold medal didn't come easy. Led by 10(32-22) at halftime and as many as 15 points in the third quarter, Taiwan almost blew the game after missing several free-throws in crucial moments. And Japan rallied behind 19-year-old high schooler Takuya Kawamura, who made three three-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Kawamura's last field goal -- a back-breaking three pointer -- cut Japan's deficit to only three, 58-55, with 3.6 seconds left. But it's too late for Japan, who almost trailed the entire game. Tien made both of his free-throws to ice the game.

Lee Hsueh-lin led Taiwan with 15 points. Center Tsun Wen-din had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals. Tien Lei had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds and added four steals.

Japan shocked China 68-60 in the semifinal. It's probably the biggest upset in the whole tournament, although China only sent its second national team.

And after today's final, I think Japan has finally found its shooting star of the new generation. Takuya Kawamura, who was named MVP in this summer's Basketball Without Borders Camp in China, is a sweeting-shooting scorer with a big heart -- at 19 years-old. He is tall enough to deal with most backcourt players in Asia at 190 cm. His potential is unlimited.

Taiwan beat South Korea 61-48 in an ugly semifinal game. Tsun Wen-din once again dominated the game with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Tien Lei had 16 points and 14 rebounds.

In women's final, Taiwan Women's NT play picked a wrong time to play poorly. Taiwan Women's, which beat China by more than 30 in the prelim, lost to China 71-67 in the title game.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Taiwan meets South Korea in EAG semifinal

Taiwan beat Mongolia 107-70 in its last preliminary game to finish 5-1 and No.2 in the prelim and will meet No.3 seed South Korea in the East Asian Games semifinal today. No.1 seed China will meet No.4 japan in the other semifinal.

Chou Shih-yuan scored team-high 20 points. Yang Chin-ming added 19 points. Yang Che-yi had 13 and Tien Lei had 12 points.

Taiwan beat South Korea 75-56 in the preliminary game.

Hong Kong beat Macau 66-61 and finished for fifth place with a 2-5 record. Mongolia(1-6) is sixth and host Macau(0-7) finished last place.

Taiwan women's NT will play for gold in the EAG final vs. China.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Tien Lei leads Taiwan past Japan in EAG

Led by Tien Lei's two power dunks, Taiwan NT shout out to Asia that its 9th-place finish in the Asian Championship is not right after defeating Japan, which ranked for 5th in the Asian Championship, 89-78. Taiwan finished the preliminary round 4-1 and ranked second behind China.
 
Yang Yu-ming made 6 of 7 three-point attempts en route to his game-high 24 points and helped Taiwan lead by as many as 25 points. Tien Lei exploded for 19 points and played probably his best game in two months. Chen Chih-chun and Lee Huseh-lin each scored 12.
 
Taiwan cruised by Macau 120-78 on Tuesday. Chou Shih-yuan finally broke out from his slump and scored 27 points on 11-17 shooting. Center Wu Chih-wei had 22 points and 7 rebounds. Lee Hsueh-lin had 15 points. Lee Chi-yi added 12 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
 
On women side, Taiwan edged Japan to finish th preliminary games 3-0 and advanced to the semifinal.