Sunday, September 02, 2007

Jiangsu, Shangdong win opening games in Straits Cup

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Straits Cup was held in Miaoli.

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Shangdong guard Sun Jie had 23 points in the first game vs. Taiwan Beer.

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Wu Dai-hao played his first game in a TB uniform.

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Jiangsu head coach Hu Weidong, former China NT star forward.

Jiangsu Dragons and Shangdong defeated their Taiwanese opponents in the opening day of the 2007 Straits Cup tournament, a mini tourney featuring four teams from both sides of the Taiwan Straits.

Led by Sun Jie's 23 points, Shangdong beat defending SBL champion Taiwan Beer 86-72 while Jiangsu pulled away in the second half and beat Dacin 95-79.

Sun Jie scored 18 of his 23 points in the first half, when Shangdong displayed its awesome outside shooting and led 50-36 at the half. Zhao Yonggang made six threes in the game and finished with 20 points. Guard Wang Gang had 15.

Shangdong made 60% of its 3-PT field goals in the game and shot 56 percent as a team.

Taiwan Beer looked rusty and was never in a rhythm in the entire game. Wu Dai-hao scored 15 points in his TB debut. Yang Chin-min, who also played his first game with TB, had 6 points. Lin Chih-jay had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Yen Hsin-shu, who came out of retirement and signed with China's Yunnan Running Bulls, did not score and had three turnovers in 15 minutes of action. Yen had a long way to go to get back to game condition after three years away from basketball.

In the second game, Jiangsu had no problem dealing with short-handed Dacin as the Dragon used a 21-4 run in the third quarter to open up the game. Starting poing guard Hu Xuefeng had a game-high 30 points, 6 assists and 5 steals while Meng Da added 25 points.

Dacin dropped it first game under new head coach Chiu Da-tsun, who coached Jiangsu during his days in the China's CBA. But it's hard to blame them as four Dacin starters -- Tien Lei, Chang Chi-feng, Su Yi-chieh and Yang Yu-min -- all missed the game due to injury.

Wang Chih-chun pace Dacin with 16 points. Lee Fong-yong had 13.

Jiangsu finished third in the CBA last season with a 23-7 record. Shangdong ranked fifth with 19-11.