Taiwan Mobile signs Mario Boggan

Taiwan Mobile brought in American forward Mario Boggan and released Taiwanese-German center Jufan Geiger, making Boggan the second SBL import for the upcoming season.

The other import player is Dacin's Byron Allen.

Local Chinese newspaper Apple Daily reported that Boggan, a 6-6 bully forward-center, will get a monthly salary of US$10,000. Boggan came from Oklahoma State, where he averaged 19 points and 7.6 rebounds and was named All Big-12 First Team in 2006-07.

Taiwan Mobile head coach Cheng Chih-lung expcted Boggan to solidify TM's interior defense and make huge contribution on the offensive end as well. Geiger, Cheng said without elaboration, was released because he did not fit in with the team's need.

Geiger said in an email that he was informed of the release but was not told why he did not meet the team's need.

The SBL allows imports-hiring for non-playoff teams. However, teams that failed to make the playoffs have been reluctant to do so due to budget problem amid the global economy crisis.

==

Mario Boggan profile:

Born Sept. 30, 1983

Career:
Durham, N.C. (Chipola College)
(Hargrave Military Academy)
2004-2005: University of Florida (NCAA)
2005-2006: Oklahoma St. (NCAA): 33 games: 14.8ppg, 5.7rpg, 1.0apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 58.1%, 3PT: 32.1%, FT: 82.1%
2006-2007: Oklahoma St. (NCAA): 34 games: 19.0ppg, 7.6rpg, 1.4apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 54.0%, 3Pts: 22.0%, FT: 76.1%
2007: Drafted by Oklahoma Storm (USBL,3rd(28))
2007 July: NBA Summer League in Las Vegas (Denver Nuggets)
2007: Drafted by Yakama Sun Kings (CBA,2rd(20))
2007-2008: Before the season was tested by JDA Dijon Bourgogne (FRA-ProA), but not signed, in Sep.'07 agreed terms with Spotter Leuven (Belgium-D1, starting five): 13 games: 14.4ppg, 6.6rpg, 1.2apg, 1.3spg, 2FGP: 53.0%, 3PT: 28.0%, FT: 80.0%, released in Dec.'07, in Jan.'08 signed by Darussafaka Istanbul (Turkey-TBL, starting five) but never showed up, in Feb.'08 tested by Polpak Swiecie (Poland-DBE, starting five), released in Feb.'08, then joined Anaheim Arsenal (D-League): 6 games: 1.2ppg, 1.2rpg, in Mar.'08 moved to Rio Grande Valley Vipers (D-League)
2008-2009: Vitoria SC/M.Couto Alves (Portugal-UZO Liga, starting five), left in Oct.'08, in Dec.'08 moved to East Kentucky Miners (CBA)

Awards/Achievements:
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention -06
NABC All-NCAA District 12 1st Team -07
Big 12 Tournament Semifinals -07
All-Big 12 1st Team -07
(Source: Eurobasket.com)

(Photo source: Apple Daily)

Taiwanese basketball tidbit

-- This is a little bit late. In fact, much too late. Dacin Tigers signed American forward Byron Allen to a contract for an undisclosed amount. The 6-7, 280 pounder is mainly a physical post player and will be the only U.S. import in the 2008-09 SBL season.

Local newspapers reported that Dacin loves Allen's defensive mentality, which has been the teams' priority in its import search.

Allen, on paper, will be the sole import in the SBL next year although there will be a number of players comiing from overseas, including Taiwanese-Americans James Mao and Doug Creighton and Taiwanese-German Juefan Geiger (see below).

Byron Allen profile:
DOB: June 10, 1981
Career:
Leland, MS/ Leland HS
2002-2003: Northwestern St. (NCAA): 27 games: 10.2ppg, 4.7rpg, 24ast
2003-2004: Northwestern St. (NCAA): 27 games: 8.3ppg, 4.7rpg, 19ast
2004-2005: Northwestern St. (NCAA): 33 games: 7.3ppg, 3.8rpg, 26ast, FGP: 50%
2005-2006: Northwestern St. (NCAA): 34 games: 7.5ppg, 3.6rpg, FG: 57.1%, FT: 52.8%
2007-2008: East Kentucky Miners (CBA), left in Feb.'08: 28 games: 3.1ppg, 2.3rpg
2008: Elkhart Express (IBL): 22 games: 6.7ppg, 4.2rpg, 0.4apg
2008-2009: East Kentucky Miners (CBA)
(Source: Eurobasket.com)

-- Taiwanese-German Juefan Geiger is currently in training camp with his Taiwan Mobile teammates and getting used to a different style of play in Taiwan. Taiwanese teams emphasize speed over anything else while in Germany physicality is the priority, said Geiger.

Geiger, whose mother is a Taiwanese, goes with his Chinese name Huang Yu-fan in Taiwan. Possessing a Taiwanese passport, he is able to play as a local player in the SBL.

 

-- It makes you wonder that whether the SBL will be able to successfully launch its 6th season as the venue, the schedule, the TV contract and even the opening date are all still uncertain at this moment -- approximately one month before the scheduled opening day January 10, 2009.

-- Finally…Chen Hsin-an is enjoying his fatherhood. Chen’s daughter was born in August…

(Photos source: Apple Daily)

Dmedia changes ownership

The name dmedia Numen was in the past as the team has been taken over by two local companies and will be renamed after the the name of its primary sponsor KKL -- Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor (KKL) Inc., said Numen team management according to a local newspaper report.

The ownership change took place amid a baseball game fixing scandal which is still under investigation and involves dmedia's mother company.

Dmedia became the first corporate to own professional teams in Taiwan's basketball and baseball leagues after purchasing a team in Taiwan's pro baseball league CPBL and renamed the team dmedia T-Rex in February.

The CPBL expelled dmedia T-Rex in late October after allegations of game fixing and gangster involvement. Organized crime took over the team earlier last year and used cash bribes and threats against players before the games in order to reap gambling profits, prosecutors said.

Word is that prosecutors were also suspicious of dmedia Numen's possible involvement of game-fixing. Numen management denied all the allegations however.

KKL is a highly successful semi state-owned liquor company in Kinmen, an outlying island located very near China's southeast coast but is controlled by Taiwan government. Kaoliang, the Chinese word for sorghum, sells so well that the distillery generates an annual revenue of close to US$70 million for the county government.

Hongya International Inc. and De-heng Marketing firm took over dmedia management, Chinese-version newspaper Liberty Times reported.

It's not clear whether KKL will keep NUMEN as the team nickname. I think they will find a new one.

Anyway, KKL will be a brand new team next season and actually weaker as it lost its top two scorers -- import Jonathan Sanders and Ouyang Ching-heng. Sanders left Taiwan and Ouyang signed with Taiwan Mobile.

Chang sparks BYUH in upset win over defending NCAA Div-II champ

Jet Chang did not start in his first college game, but he made sure he made a difference every time he stepped on the court all through out his basketball career. The 6-3 freshman came off the bench and scored 10 first-half points to spark BYU-Hawaii to a upset win over Winona State, the defending NCAA Div-II champion.

Read the game report from BYUH website:

Seasiders Open with Win Over Defending Champs

Laie, HI—The Brigham Young University Hawaii men’s basketball team opened the season with an exciting, 78-76 victory over defending NCAA II champion Winona State tonight before an energized crowd in the Cannon Activities Center.  Junior center Lucas Alves, the Pacific West Conference pre-season Player of the Year, lived up to the billing by scoring 27 points and pulling down 12 rebounds to lead the Seasiders to the win.

BYU–Hawaii, ranked 23 in the nation in the pre-season, started slowly against the ninth-ranked Warriors and trailed by nine points, 24-15, midway through the opening period.  But freshman Tsung-Hsien (Jet) Chang came off the bench to help spark a BYU–Hawaii rally by scoring all ten of his points in the first half.  Alves and senior Jermaine Odjegba also hit key shots as the Seasiders rallied to tie the game 33-33 on a resounding dunk by Alves.  After the teams exchanged leads the squads went into halftime knotted up at 39-39.

The teams battled through several ties and lead changes in the second half, with neither team leading by more than four points, until senior Trenson Akana hit a three-pointer to give BYU–Hawaii the lead for good with just under five minutes to play in the game.  An Alves free throw, a put-back by senior Nathan Sims, and a pair of charity shots by Odjegba put the Seasiders on top 74-68 with 3:05 to play but the Warriors battled back.  Winona State’s David Johnson sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around a jumper from BYU–Hawaii’s A.J. Reilly to make it a two-point game.  J.R. Buensuceso hit one of two free throws for the Seasiders with 1:16 to play but the Warrior’s Ben Fischer hit a pair from the line to bring Winona State within one at 77-76 with 20 seconds remaining.  The Seasiders then missed a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left to give the Warriors a chance to win the game with the last shot.  Following a timeout with eight seconds on the clock, Fischer attempted to drive the lane but lost the ball out of bounds with three seconds to play.  Reilly was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and hit the second of two free throws with 1.5 seconds left.  A desperation half-court heave by Johnson was off the mark at the buzzer.

In addition to his scoring and rebounding, Alves added three steals and two blocks.  He shot 8-14 from the field despite being double and triple-teamed all game.  Odjegba finished with 12 points, six rebounds, three steals, and two blocks for the Seasiders and Akana scored 11 points, including three three-pointers.  Chang hit double figures with his ten first-half points.  Buensuceso and Reilly each finished with four assists for the Seasiders.

Johnson led Winona State, now 1-1 for the season, with 21 points.  Travis Whipple had 14 and Joel Armstrong ten for the Warriors.  Fischer finished with ten assists and four steals and Curtrel Robinson got six rebounds.

BYU–Hawaii and Winona State will face each other again on Thursday night in Laie at 7:30 pm.

Jet Chang to make U.S. college debut

Chang Tsung-hsien, one of the most physically gifted Taiwanese players in years, is scheduled to play his first game in the U.S. NCAA. The 6-3 Chang, nicknamed "Jet", is currently a freshman guard in BYU-Hawaii.

BYU-Hawaii will open the regular season on November 18th in Laie against defending NCAA II champion Winona State at 7:30 pm.  The same two teams will meet two nights later at the same time and place for a second game. The Seasiders made it to the "Sweet Sixteen" last season while Winona State has won two of the last three NCAA II titles and finished second in between the two crowns.

Following high school graduation, Chang briefly played for German team BG Goettingen II in 2007 before moving to North America this year.

Chang followed the footstep of Wu Tai-hao, who played for the Seasiders from 2005-07. The 6-9 forward-center helped BYUH to a 20-8 record in the 2006-07 season and an NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearance. Wu averaged 10.6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.6 blocks per game in 2006-07, his sophomore season, up from 8.9 points and 3.2 rebounds in 2005-06 when he was named Freshman of the Year in the Pacific West Conference (PWC).

Wu left BYUH after his sophomore season and returned to Taiwan to play for ETSN Antelopes. One year later he signed with Taiwan Beer and led the team to the SBL title.

BYUH has been known for recruiting Asian players. Former Phoenix Sun Yuta Tabuse, a Japanese guard, also played for the school before Wu.

Check out BYHU Men's Basketball website at http://sports.byuh.edu/Mens_Basketball

Solid showing for Yang Yu-ming in Chinese league debut

Yang Yu-ming had 10 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in his debut with CBA's Jilin Northeast Tigers, a 23-point loss to Shanxi, and made a rare start at point guard in his first game in the Chinese League, China Times reported.

Yang, who played 39 minutes Monday night, is one of three Taiwanese players -- all of them are expected to play as point guards -- playing in China this season. Wang Shin-kai, who played for Yunnan last year, is back with the team again and Sun Hwan-bo plays for the expansion team Shaanxi.

Sun had 2 points and 2 steals in 6 minutes as the third point guard while Wang went scoreless in 17 minutes.

Yang spent last season with Dacin Tigers of Taiwan's Super Basketball League but decided to try his luck in China as the former NT shooter lost his starting role on the team and played mostly as a substitute.

Wang joined Taiwan Beer late last season and helped TB to win its second straight SBL title in May.

(Photo source: China Times)

Dacin did not sign Roberts

Kudos to the anonymous who left a comment on my previous post and reminded me that Dacin did not sign Rolan Roberts. My bad. After checking up the news, I found out that the anonymous was correct. Dacin released Roberts after a three-day workout, saying that the 30-year-old forward did not meet the team’s defense-first priority.

Dacin head coach Chiu Da-tsun said that the team will keep looking for import player.

Rolan Roberts profile

(199-F/C-78) USA, agent: Warren Chris
250lbs / 115kg
Birthdate: April 24, 1978 (Baltimore, MD)

Career:
Woodbridge, VA
1997-1998: Virginia Tech (NCAA) 27g 13.6ppg 6.3rpg 0.8apg 2.2bpg
1998-1999: Virginia Tech (NCAA) 28g 14.1ppg 6.5rpg 1.2apg 2.0bpg
1999-2000: Virginia Tech (NCAA) 20g 13.1ppg 6.4rpg 1.7apg 1.7bpg
2000-2001: sat out
2001-2002: S.Illinois (NCAA): 33 games:  13.8 ppg,7.1rpg, 1.6apg
2002: Drafted by St.Louis Sky Hawks 4rd(39))
2002: Portsmouth Invitational Tournament
2002: July: Orlando Summer League (Indiana Pacers team)
2002: July: Shaw's Pro Summer League (Washington Wizards team)
2002: Drafted by Idaho Stampede (CBA,5thd round (34))
2002-2003: In Oct.'02 signed at Besiktas Istanbul (TUR-D1): 10 games: 15.6ppg, 7.9rpg, 1.2apg, 1.9bpg, 1.2spg: left in Jan.'03 due to personal problems, then joined Villa Duarte de Calero (DOM-District National), but in March '03 signed 1-month contract with Vichy Auvergne (FRA-ProA): 11games: 14.0ppg, 11.4rpg, 1.4apg
2003-2004: North Charleston Lowgators (NBDL, starting five): 46 games: 9.2ppg, 6.1rpg, 0.7apg, 0.9spg
2004-2005: In Oct.'04 signed at Anjou Basket Club Angers (FRA-ProB): 2 games: 21.5ppg, 4.0rpg, 1.5apg, 2.0bpg, released next month, then joined Sydney Kings (AUS-NBL): 23 games: 16.4ppg, 9.1rpg, 1.2apg, Blocks-5(1.7bpg), in Apr.'05 agreed terms with Villaggio Solidago Livorno (Italy-SerieA): 7 games: 10.6ppg, 7.6rpg, 1.6spg, 2FGP: 57.1%
2005-2006: Sydney Kings (AUS-NBL): 22 games: 12.5ppg, 7.5rpg, 1.8apg, blocks-3(1.4bpg), FG: 51%, FT: 45%got injured in Dec.'05 after trying to dunk the ball at the All-Star Game, the injury required a shoulder surgery and missed the rest of the season
2006-2007: In Nov.'06 signed at ALM Evreux Basket (FRA-ProB, starting five): 28 games: 15.1ppg, Reb-4(8.0), 1.3apg, 1.5spg, Blocks-2(1.4), FGP: 52.1%, 3PT: 11.1%, FT: 54.8%
2007-2008: Limoges CSP Elite (FRA-ProB): 15 games: 10.5ppg, 5.3rpg, 1.2bpg, 2FGP: 56.8%, FT: 52.3%, in Jan.'08 moved to ES Chalon-Sur-Saone (FRA-ProA): French League: 17 games: 4.3ppg, 3.3rpg; ULEB Cup: 4 games: 5.8ppg, 6.3rpg, 1.5apg, 1.0spg, 1.0bpg
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Awards/Achievements:
NCAA Sweet 16 -02
Third Team All-Atlantic 10 -00
All-Portsmouth Invitational Tournament Consolation Team -01
All-MVC Defensive Player of the Year -02
MVC All-Defense Team -02
All-MVC Newcomer of the Year -02
MVC All-Newcomer Team -02
All-MVC 1st Team -02
MVC Regular Season Champion -02
MVC Tournament Finalist -02
All-NBDL Honorable Mention -04
NBDL Regular Season Runner-Up -04
NBDL Semifinals -04
Australian NBL Champion -05
Australian NBL All-Star Game -06 (DNP-injured)

New -- and the only -- import player in 08-09 SBL season

Once again, sorry for the late posting. I have been extremely busy in the past month. Anyway, if the China Times story is correct, 6-6 forward Rolan Roberts will become the only import player in the SBL next season.

Dacin Tigers is expected to sign the 30-years-old former Salukis, who played in Turkey, France and Australia, China Times reported, saying that Roberts will be the only import in the league as no other teams plan to hire import players due to limited budget. Roberts is expected to get monthly salary of close to US$ 10,000, the newspaper reported.

Roberts has a personal website at http://www.rolanroberts.tv

At the same time, Jonathan Sanders, who have been in the Taiwanese league for two years, announced in his personal blog that he has decided to retire from basketball at an young age of 27. Sanders said Dacin Tigers has negotiated with him for a contract in the upcoming season but the deal did not go through.

The 6-6 forward was named to All-SBL team twice in two years -- 2006-07 with Videoland Hunters and 2007-08 with Dmedia Numens. In both seasons Sanders posted monster numbers, led his teams to the playoffs and was hot MVP candidates. However, he failed to win the prestigious award both times, which in my views was ridiculous and reflected the injustice among Taiwanese media voters.

Sanders averaged 23.5 points and 16.3 rebounds in 2006-07 and turned in 21.3 points, 16.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in 2007-08. And those numbers were not enough to get him a MVP. Wow.

I have repeated many times here about the crazy system the SBL has implemented here. The rule allowed only non-playoff teams to hire imports. The hiring is not mandatory though. Non-playoff teams can decide whether they're interested in signing imports.

The crazy thing here is that import players who play hard for his team and lead his team to the playoffs will lose his job the following season! Sanders is both the perfect example and biggest victim of this crazy system.

That said, I hope the experience does not leave Sanders with a bad taste in his mouth. Hopefully the playing experience in Taiwan will be a memorable one for him. Check out Sanders' blog here at http://jonsanders32.blogspot.com/

(Photo credit: China Times, Jon Sanders)

Asia Junior Women - Taiwan No.4 again

Taiwan Junior Women's NT lost to South Korea 94-73 in the bronze medal game of the 19th Asian Junior Women Championship in Medan, Indonesia on Nov. 8 and finished for the fourth place for the third straight time in the tournament. The story came too late, I know. And I’m sorry for that.

For schedule, game results and reports please download the following files here. http://www.box.net/shared/84fbh7t70y

Background report:

Six teams in fray for title, six more seek promotion

MEDAN, Indonesia (FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women): Twelve teams – divided into two levels – will be seen in action in the 19th FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women starting at the picturesque capital of North Sumatra on Sunday.

The top three finishers from the week-long championship will qualify for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women, scheduled to be held in Thailand.

Six-time defending champions China, Korea – the only other team to ever win the title – last edition’s runners-up Japan, Chinese Taipei, India and Malaysia will contest in the elite Level I, which will decide the champions as well as the qualifiers for the World Championship.

Hosts Indonesia, making a comeback to the championship after a 16-year gap, are drawn with fellow South East Asian rivals Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, East Asia’s Hong Kong and Middle Asian nation Kazakhstan in Level II.

The top four finishers in Level I will be involved in a semifinal knockout.

The top two finishers from Level II will play off with the bottom two finishers of Level I for a place in the elite Level for the next edition.

Both levels will witness an all-play-all format for identifying the semifinalists and the play-off participants.

Big time basketball makes an appearance in Indonesia after quite a gap and the FIBA Asia top brass are quite excited about the championship providing a boost to the sport in this region.

“I’m sure Medan will rise to the occasion and give us a successful championship,” FIBA Asia Secretary General Dato’ Yeoh Choo Hock said.

“We have had a very eventful year in FIBA Asia. Iran’s impressive showing at the Olympics, the successful resumption of the FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup and the colorful start to the FIBA 33 competition in Bali last week, are some of the top successes for FIBA Asia this year,” he said.

“Not to forget China’s excellent hosting of the Olympics.”

“Of course, we have conducted all our regular tournaments without any hitch and have raised the standards on that front too. Medan’s success will be the icing on the FIBA Asia cake,” he added.

On the competition front though, the question that lingers in everyone’s mind is: Who will better the East Asian quartet?

China, Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei have held a stranglehold on the top four finishes in the championship for almost the last quarter of a century.

The last time any team outside this foursome made the semifinals was when Malaysia made the last four in the eighth edition of the championship at Seoul, Korea way back in 1984.

China, Korea and Japan finished as the top three in the last edition at Bangkok and duly qualified for the 2007 FIBA World U19 Championship at Slovakia.

Both China and Korea have brought one player each from the team that played in Slovakia to spearhead their campaign at Medan.

Point guard Hyejin Park, who averaged 6.8 PPG in Slovakia, will hope that her World Championship experience will help Korea regain the title, which they last won in the 12th edition of the championship in Beijing in 1992.

China will counter the Park threat with center Zheng Bowen, who as the youngest member of the team in Slovakia returned an average 5.9 PPG.

Korea had finished eighth and China 11th as Japan finished 13th at Slovakia.

India and Malaysia, both of whom were promoted from Level II at the last edition in Bangkok, thus have their task cut out to dent the might of the East Asian stranglehold. Should that happen it will be a fitting finale to this year’s FIBA Asia calendar.

Rankings at the 18th FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women

1. China
2. Japan
3. Korea
4. Chinese Taipei
5. Singapore*
6. Thailand*
7. India**
8. Malaysia**
9. Kazakhstan
10. Hong Kong
11. Vietnam
12. Sri Lanka
Note: * denotes relegated to Level II. **denotes promoted to Level I.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia

Iran wins Asian University Basketball Championship

Amir Amini had 20 points, 6 assists and four steals and M. Akbaribisheh had 16 points and four steals as Iran University Select beat Taiwan University Select 78-71 in the championship game of the 2008 Asian University Men's Basketball Championship (AUB) on Oct. 16.

Taiwan finished as runner-up for the second time. It lost to Korea two years ago in the inaugural AUB.

Korea's Hanyang University edged Notre Dame University of Lebanon 74-72 in the bronze medal game.

The home boys failed to cut down on their turnovers once again after squandering a 23-point lead in a upset loss to Iranians in the preliminary round. Taiwan committed 22 turnovers in the final game as Iran pulled off a 15-4 run in the final three minutes for the victory.

Wu Tai-hao had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Lin Ching-pang had 11 points and 8 boards.

When Taiwan meets Korea on the basketball court, you expect something interesting to happen, which was the case in the cross-over semifinal. The game was stopped three times because of confrontation, protests and near-brawls. It ended with six disqualifications -- four for Taiwan and two for Korea -- and 59 foul calls.

Taiwan beat Hanyang Univ. 88-80 thanks to Chen Shun-hsiang's 34 points and the 26 for 30 free-throw shooting as a team. Wu Tai-hao, who had a techincal and fouled out of the game, had 14 points, 7 rebounds and three blocks.

Guangdong University of Technology, which produced current New Jersey Nets forward Yi Jianlian, and City University of Hong Kong failed to make the semifinals.

Lin Ching-pang.

Wu Tai-hao scored over Iranian players.

Wu Tai-hao dunked on a Guangdong University of Technology defender.

Chen Shun-shiang scored 34 in the championship game.

Chaotic scene in the Taiwan-Korea game.

(Photo source: UDN.com, AUB official web site)

2008-09 HBL season set to begin

2008-09 high school basketball season is set to begin next Monday with 22 men's teams and 13 women's teams battling for the bragging rights of Taiwan high school ball. All eyes will be on Nanshan High School and Haishan High School, the defending men's and women's champions.

"Shan" means "mountain" in Chinese. In the past years, Nanshan and Haishan have become two mountains that are difficult for their opponents to conquer, with Haishan winning three straight women's finals and Nanshan taking home two men's titles.

The new season will start with the Northern Division preliminaries, which will be played in Nanhu High School in Taipei from Oct. 13-19. Eleven of 15 teams in the division advance to the second round. Five of the seven teams in the Southern Division advance to the second round after a preliminiary round in Fengshan Vocational High School from Oct. 15-18 in southern Taiwan.

The 16-team men's second round will start Dec. 25 in Banciao, Taipei. Women's preliminary round will start on the same day and conclude on the final day of the year. Organizers decided to push back the women's schedule because Taiwan will be sending its national team to the Asian U-18 Women's Championship in Indonesia in Novermeber.

Asian University Men's Championship to tip-off in Taipei

The second Asian University Men's Basketball Championship will be played in Taiwan from Oct. 11-16 2008 as six teams from Taiwan, China, Korea, Lebanon, Iran and Hong Kong will vie for the ultimate crown of Asian collegiate basketball.

According to the information from the official web site, both Taiwan and Iran fielded university select teams for the competition. City University of Hong Kong will represent Hong Kong while Hanyang University represents Korea. China sent Guangdong University of Technology to the event. And if I'm not mistaken, Notre Dame University - Louaize will represent Lebanon.

All games will be played at the stadium of the Chinese Culture University in Yangmingshan, Taipei.

Korea won the title in the first edition of AUB in 2006.

The competition was hosted by Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation (CTUSF) and Taipei City Government and organized by Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) and the CTUSF basketball committee under the auspices of Asian University Sports Federation (AUSF).

AUSF press release:

2nd Asian University Men's Basketball Championship: Update 3
2008-09-18

For the upcoming 2nd Asian University Men`s Basketball Championship to held from 11th to 16th Oct. 2008, six teams from China, Hong Kong, Iran, Korea, Lebanon and the host Chinese Taipei finally confirmed the participation in it. Therefore, the two-group competition system will not be used. The competition system will comprise of two stages: Preliminary Round and Medal Games.

The Preliminary Round will be a single round-robin competition, as each team will play all the other five teams. Then, the teams ranked 1st and 2nd in the preliminary round will play for the Gold Medal game, while those ranked 3rd and 4th will play for the Bronze Medal game.

In order to create the compeition schedule, a seeding format will be adopted. First, the first four slots were placed according to the finishing order among the teams previously participating in the 2006 Asian University Men’s Basketball Championship. Then ,the remaining two slots were filled in by the order of entry confirmation for those teams which didn’t participate in the 2006 Asian University Men’s Basketball Championship.

All the competitors for this Championship must be born between January 1, 1984 and December 31, 1990.

2008 Asian University Men’s Basketball Championship Competition Schedule

Date Day Time Home Team vs. Visiting Team
October 11th Sat 1300 TPE (2) vs. (5) LIB
October 11th Sat 1500 Opening Ceremony
October 11th Sat 1600 KOR (1) vs. (6) IRI
October 11th Sat 1800 CHN (3) vs. (4) HKG
October 12th Sun 1500 TPE (2) vs. (3) CHN
October 12th Sun 1700 IRI (6) vs. (4) HKG
October 12th Sun 1900 LIB (5) vs. (1) KOR
October 13th Mon 1500 KOR (1) vs. (4) HKG
October 13th Mon 1700 LIB (5) vs. (3) CHN
October 13th Mon 1900 TPE (2) vs. (6) IRI
October 14th Tue 1500 IRI (6) vs. (5) LIB
October 14th Tue 1700 HKG (4) vs. (2) TPE
October 14th Tue 1900 CHN (3) vs. (1) KOR
October 15th Wed 1500 HKG (4) vs. (5) LIB
October 15th Wed 1700 CHN (3) vs. (6) IRI
October 15th Wed 1900 KOR (1) vs. (2) TPE
October 16th Thu 1500 Bronze Medal Game Team#3 vs. Team#4
October 16th Thu 1700 Gold Medal Game Team #1 vs. Team# 2
October 16th Thu 2000 Closing Ceremony & Farewell Party(Kilin Hotel of Taipei)

-- Competition System: The system comprises of two stages: Preliminary Round and Medal Games.
-- The Preliminary Round: The format will be a single round-robin competition, as each team will play all the other participating teams in the Preliminary Round.
-- Medal Games: The teams ranked 1st and 2nd in the preliminary round will play for the Gold Medal game, while those ranked 3rd and 4th places will play for the Bronze Medal game.
-- Seeding Format: The first four seeds were selected according to the finishing order among the teams participating in the 2006 Asian University Men’s Basketball Championship. The remaining seeds were filled in by the order of the teams confirming their entry.

Rosters

Taiwan University Select
Lee Wei-lun G 172 64 Fujen University
Chou Tzu-hua G 184 85 Fujen University
Chen Shun-hsiang F 190 90 Fujen University
Chang Po-sheng G 185 83Taiwan University of Arts
Lin Ching-pang G 190 80 Chinese Culture University
Lu Cheng-ju F 194 88 TPEC
Lin Yi-hui F 191 89 NTNU
Wang Chien-wei F 190 91 Fujen University
Wu Chien-lung F 193 93 Chinese Culture University
Cheng Chih-hao C 208 94 Fujen University
Wu Tai-hao C 202 100 NTNU
Nian Shu-hao C 197 90 Fujen University

Notre Dame Univ.
Miguel Martinez 189
Marwan Ziadeh 200
Georges Badawi 183
Georges Akiki 173
Patrick Bou Abboud 200
Jad Bachour 196
Roudy Farraj 190
Rachad El Nawar 195
Raymonf Dagher 197
Robert Bou Dagher 202
Jean Abd El Nour 198

Iran University Select
DAVOUDICHEGANI, Aren 179
SAHAKIAN, Oshin 194
AKBARIBISHEH, Mohammadreza 192
DORAGHI, Ali 202
AMINI, Amir 187
BORDBAR FANI, Mojtaba 200
BAHERAN, Ali 184
ZAREEI, Mohammad 190
AKHAVANBITAGHGIR, Mohammad Javad 190
JAMSHIDI JAFARABADI, Ali 190
FARAHANI, Navid 190
SHAMSALDINSAEID, Ali 190
MONAVARI, Siavash 190

Official AUB web site  http://aub.pixnet.net/blog/
http://www.cityu.edu.hk/cityu/index.html
http://www.hanyang.ac.kr/english/

SBL rejects broadcast offer

Local news outlets reported that the SBL Committee had rejected the broadcast right fee offer from ESPN Taiwan and Videoland, the league's broadcast partners in the past five years and hold the negotiation priority, and did not rule out opening the bid.

ESPN Taiwan and Videoland upped their offer from NT 39.2 million to 42 million, but the number was still far from SBL's asking price of NT 56 million.

ESPN and VL lowered the offer because of the expenditure in the next season is expected to rise. Without a venue to play in Taipei, the SBL was forced to play in other cities in the 2008-09 season.

Guanhu Cup interrupted by super typhoon

The remaining games of the 2008 Guanhu Cup have been cancelled because of a super typhoon which is hitting Taiwan, game organizers said Saturday. Semifinal games and the the championship game will not be played.

Yulon, Taiwan Beer, Singapore Slingers and Korea's Kyunghee University advanced to the semifinal Saturday after the quarterfinal round. But that was as far as the competition went as Taiwan braced for Typhoon Jangmi, the fourth and the most powerful typhoon hitting the country this summer.

The cancellation of the games was inevitable as Typhoon Jangmi made its landfall in Taiwan's eastern coast Sunday afternoon. Hualien, where Guanhu Cup is being played, is in eastern Taiwan.

Sept. 27 Quarterfinal results:

Yulon 82-74 Dacin
Taiwan Beer 99-95 dmedia
Slingers 97-84 Phoenix
Kyunghee Univ. 95-90 Pure Youth

Guanhu Cup: Two teams eliminated, quarterfinals begin

Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan University Select have been eliminated from the 10-team 2008 Guanhu Cup after three days of preliminary games. Quarterfinals begin today.

Sept. 26
Kyunghee 86-77 Phoenix
dmedia 84-74 Taiwan Mobile
Yulon 98-85 Slingers
TB 86-77 Dacin

Quarterfinal matchups:
Slingers vs. Phoenix
Yulon vs. Dacin
Kyunghee vs. PY
TB vs. dmedia

Guanhu Cup photos (source: Apple Daily)

Sun Ming Ming of Phoenix stood above all the rest.

Lin Chih-chieh, Taiwan Beer.

Kao Tien-chi, dmedia.

Chen Hsin-an, who became a father this summer, returned to the court.

Sun Ming Ming of Phoenix.

Guanhu Cup results

Group A: Yulon, dmedia, Taiwan Mobile, Slingers
Group B: Taiwan Beer, Pure Youth, Dacin
Group C: Taiwan University Select, Kyunghee Univ., Phoenix

Sept. 24
Kyunghee 62-48 TUS
PY 94-76 Dacin
Slingers 92-84 TM
Yulon 110-82 dmedia

Sept. 25
Phoenix 110-67 TUS
Slingers 101-89 dmedia
Yulon 81-60 TM
TB 86-81 PY

2008 Guanhu Cup Invitational tips off today

2008 Guanhu Cup Invitational, which is alos known as Hualien Probation Cup, tips off today as ten teams from Taiwan and overseas are scheduled to participate in the five-day event that is entering its sixth year.

Venue: Huanlien County Gymnasium

Participating Teams:
Taiwan University Selects
Dacin Tigers, Taiwan (SBL) http://www.dacintigers.com.tw/
Yulon Dinos, Taiwan (SBL) http://www.yulon.com.tw/
Taiwan Beer, Taiwan (SBL) http://sbl.mytaiwanbeer.com.tw/
Pure Youth, Taiwan (SBL)
dmedia Numen, Taiwan (SBL) http://www.dmedia-numen.com.tw/
Taiwan Mobile Leopards, Taiwan (SBL) http://www.taiwandabasketball.com|
Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix, Japan (BJ League) http://bj-phoenix.com/
Kyung Hee University, Korea http://www.kyunghee.edu/
Singapore Slingers http://singaporeslingers.com/

2008 Guanhu Cup Invitational schedule

Sept. 24 (Wed.)
1400 TUS vs. Kyunghee (@Yuli Junior High School)
1540 Taiwan Mobile vs. Slingers
1720 Yulon vs. dmedia
1900 Dacin vs. Pure Youth

Sept. 25 (Thu.)
1400 Phoenix vs. TUS
1540 Slingers vs. dmedia
1720 Taiwan Mobile vs. Yulon
1900 Pure Youth vs. Taiwan Beer

Sept. 26 (Fri.)
1400 Kyunghee vs. Phoenix
1540 dmedia vs. Taiwan Mobile
1720 Yulon vs. Slingers
1900 Opening Ceremony
1930 Dacin vs. Taiwan Beer

Sept. 27 (Sat.)
1000 Quarterfinal 1
1140 Quarterfinal 2
1320 Quarterfinal 3 (Live broadcast, Videoland)
1500 Quarterfinal 4 (Live broadcast, Videoland)

Sept. 28 (Sun.)
1000 Semifinal 1
1140 Semifinal 2
1420 Bronze medal game (Live broadcast, Videoland)
1600 Championship game (Live broadcast, Videoland)
1740 Closing Ceremony

Taiwan Mobile adds seven players

Head coach Cheng Chih-lung and the newcomers. (source: Taiwan Mobile)

Taiwan Mobile, which finished for sixth place last season in the SBL, signed seven players, including German-Taiwanese center Jufan Geiger, for the upcoming season.

The Clouded Leopards yesterday introduced the newcomers with Geiger drawing the most attention. Geiger (205cm, 105kg), 27, came from Germany. His mother is a Taiwanese but he has to play as an import before receiving a Taiwanese passport -- if he wants to have one.

Geiger played for BBL's SV Tuebingen in 2003-04, Walter Tigers Tuebingen from 2004-2006, Kirchheim Knights of the ProA League in 2006-2007 before playing for TV Konstanz, averaging 11.8 points with the team.

Taiwan Mobile said it offered a position in the IT section for Geiger, a bioinformation major in Germany, to extend his non-basketball professional career.

I'm happy to know that Jufan finally find his way in Taiwan. I first got in touch with him about an year ago through a German reporter and exchanged a couple emails.

Ouyang Ching-heng, who enjoyed a breakout season last year -- 19.4 points and 4 rebounds per game -- with the dmedia Numen, signed with Taiwan Mobile.

Joining Ouyang will be 37-year-old sharp shooter Lo Hsing-liang, who averaged 6.2 points (39.5% 3PT) per game last season and helped Taiwan Beer to its second straight SBL title. TM wil count on Lo's experience and crunch shooting a lot.

194cm forward Chung Hsiu-nai, the second overall pick in the SBL Draft, will try to learn in a higher level of basketball and live up to his father's name. Chung's father, Chung Chih-mung, was an accomplished basketball coach who has coached Tera Mars in the CBA and Videoland Hunters in the SBL.

197cm Yen Chen-hung, 187cm forward Chu Chen-wei and Fang Yung-hsi, who played last season with Yulon, also signed with Taiwan Mobile.

Taiwan ninth place in Asian Junior Men

Sorry for late. I have been busy lately. Anyway, Taiwan Junior Men finished for the all-time worst ninth place in the Asian U-18 Championship which took place in Tehran, Iran.

While it's true that the results, which was the first time in history that Taiwan was out of the final eight, had a lot to do with the epic battle and a loss to the Philippines in two overtimes in the preliminary round, it was also undeniable that Taiwan's high school basketball has been down a bit these years.

After falling out of the quarterfinal round, Taiwan beat Saudi Arabia, 119-92, and India, 102-89, in the classification games before a 102-89 win over Jordan to finish for the ninth place.

Lee Ming-hui, the leading scorer on the team, had 26 points in the Jordan game while Chang Po-wei scored 19 and Lin Li-jen had 16 points.

Final ranking of the 2008 Asian U-18 Men's Championship:

1. Iran
2. Kazakhstan
3. Syria
4. Japan
5. China
6. Korea
7. Philippines
8. Lebanon
9. Taiwan
10. Jordan
11. Saudi Arabia
12. Hong Kong
13. India
14. UAE
15. Malaysia

Related links:
Wikipedia – FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship
FIBA Asia - Roster and game stats download (PDF)

Taiwan to host Asian Women's Championship after 36 years

CTBA confirmed Tuesday that Taiwan has won the bid to host the 23rd Asian Women's Basketball Championship next year, the third time in history and the first time in 36 years that Taiwan had won the right to host the event.

Taiwan lastly hosted the most prestigious event in 1972 and won silver that year. In 1968, Taiwan hosted the Asian Women's Championship for the first time and finished with 4th place in the competition.

Due to political conflict with China, Taiwan's FIBA membership was suspended in 1974 and was not re-activated until 1986, which means that Taiwan was unable to participate in any FIBA-sanctioned competition for 12 years.

In 2002, Taiwan finally won the bid to host the Asian Junior Women Basketball Championship, which was held in Taipei.

CTBA also said that the FIBA Asia executive committee has reached a decision that China will host the next Asian Men's Basketball Championship with host city pending.

Taiwan out of Asian junior men quarterfinal

Taiwan U-18 NT lost 95-80 to Lebanon today in Tehran, Iran and was knocked out of the quarterfinal round of FIBA Asian U-18 Men's Championship for the first time in history.

Taiwan finished with one win and two losses in its preliminary games and failed to qualify. It lost a double-overtime heartbreaker to the Philippines 106-105 in the opening game and routed UAE 89-54.

Lin Li-jen paced Taiwan with 20 points while Chou Po-cheng and Lee Ming-hui each socred 18 but Taiwan was unable to match up with Lebanon, which has five players over 200cm on its roster. Taiwan trailed 46-33 at halftime.

In the 35-point win over UAE, Lee Ming-hui led Taiwan with 18 points and Shih Chin-yao had 15 points.

Taiwan now as to play in the 9-15 classification games. Teams advancing to the guarterfinal are: China, South Korea, Lebanon, Japan, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Syria and host Iran.

Asia U-18 Men – Philippines beat Taiwan in 2nd OT

According to FIBA Asia…

Game 6 PHI / TPE – Philippines edge Taipei in second Overtime
TEHRAN (FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Junior Men): Last edition’s semifinalists Chinese Taipei and former champions Philippines waged a protracted battle before the latter emerged victorious 106-105, in the second Overtime in a Group C encounter here on Thursday.

Philippines went ahead 28-16 at the end of the first quarter, but that was the only time in the entire game did any team manage to hold a sizable lead.

Taipei fought back gallantly to outscore Philippines in all the three remaining quarters. The East Asian nation, who had finished fourth at Urumqi two year ago, went into the lead for the first time in the game (78-76) only with 3:15 left in the game.

The battle of nerves continued as both sides fumbled in the final moments to seal the issue in regulation.

After the first five minutes of extended time failed to break the dead-lock, Taipei raced ahead 104-98 riding on Lee Ming-Hui’s back-to-back baskets.

But Philippines fought back to regain the lead when Gabriel Banal converted both his free-throws.

“I think both of us (teams) lost chances to close the game in regulation,” said Philippines coach Franz Pumaren.

“It was a test of character for the boys. I’m happy they held together rather well,” he added.

Philippines went into the first Overtime with four players ejected due to personal fouls and were even worse off at the start of the second extension with six forced to sit out.

“I’m proud of the way my bench rose to the occasion,” Pumaren said.

“I must also give credit to the Taipei team for the way they came back,” he added.

“I’m proud of my boys for the way they fought back,” said Taipei coach Yang I-Feng.

“I hope the boys take the lessons from this game into the next matches in the tournament,” said Chung Kwang-Suk, the head coach of the Taipei Senior men’s team, but in Tehran as the General Manager of the U18 squad.

Scores
Philippines 106 (Ryan Garcia 18, Jaypee Mendoza 15, Ian Sangalang 14, Matthew Wright 12, Samuel Marata 12) bt Chinese Taipei 105 (Lin Li-Jen 14, Lee Ming-Hui 13, Lai Kuo-Wei 12). Quarterwise Scores: 28-16, 45-34, 66-60, 88-88, 96-96.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia

There was also a tragedy…

Kyrgistan basketball team on plane that crashed
TEHRAN (FIBA Asia U18 Championship) - Ten members of the Kyrgistan basketball team that was supposed to play at this week’s FIBA Asia U18 Championship in Tehran were killed in a plane crash on Sunday.

Fifty-six of the 83 people on the flight died in the accident, which is still under investigation.

Four members of the Kyrgyz delegation, including the head of the delegation, his son and two players, are understood to have survived the crash.

The plane, a Boeing 737, crashed near the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek soon after leaving Manas International Airport.

Roundup: Junior NT and TB's HK visit

-- Taiwan U-18 NT, which will compete in the Asian Men's U-18 Championship in Iran from August 28 - September 5, started its training under Korean head coach Chung Kwang-suk this past week in Beitou, Taipei.

The team started its training camp earlier this month under assistants Hsieh Yu-chuan and Yang Yi-feng when Chung was coaching Taiwan NT in the Jones Cup.

Taiwan is slated in Group C with the Philippines, United Arab Emirates and Syria. The roster is down to 13 after losing two players to injury. With a height average of 188.5cm, this team has a long way to go in the tournament.

-- This is an old news but I haven't written about it. Yulon head coach Lee Yung-kwang resigned after the team failed to win the SBL champion in consecutive years. The Dinos won the first three SBL titles from 2004-2006.

Lee officially ended his 14-year career with Yulon as a player and a coach when he submitted his resignation in early June.

Zhang Xuelei, a former China NT member who came to Taiwan and played in the pro league CBA, will take over. Actually Zhang has been listed as the Head Coach since last season while Lee was listed as a "coach" but functioned as the real head coach.

-- Taiwan Beer finished as third place with one win and two losses in the Strait Cup tournament in Hong Kong on July 27 after an 116-69 win over Macao.

Fans in Hong Kong and Taiwan were not happy with the two-time SBL champion. TB players took this tournament lightly and did not give their full effort, which disappointed HK fans. Back home, fans wondered why Lin Chih-chieh, Wu Tai-hao, Ho Shou-cheng and Chen Shih-nian, who all sat out the Jones Cup due to INJURY, were alive and kicking in Hong Kong just days after the Jones Cup. They did not look INJURED at all.

So much for "attitude, " TB's team slogan which has become a hot marketing commodity which you can see printed on T-shirts, caps and many other TB merchandise.

Retired NBA stars to visit Taiwan

NBA Taiwan announced Friday that Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler, Glen Rice and B.J. Armstrong will visit Taiwan for NBA Madness, a NBA-sponsored event, from August 29-31.

The NBA veterans will participate in the NBA Madness in Taipei after a pair of Legends Games at Taipei Arena on August 29 and at Jhubei Stadium (Hsinchu County) on August 30.

The NBA Madness, now an annual event organized by the NBA, will be held at the following sites:

Aug. 16-17: Dream Mall, Kaohsiung City
Aug. 23-24: Shin Kong Matsukoshi Department Store, Taichung City
Aug. 30-31: Danshui MRT Station, Danshui, Taipei County

In the Legends Games, the NBA veterans will be paired with local players. According to the China Times, the roster will be:

Team A:
Clyde Drexler
Glen Rice
Wu Tai-hao (TB)
Ho Shou-cheng (TB)
Lin Chih-chieh (TB)
Chen Shih-nian (TB)
Hsu Hao-cheng (TB)
Yang Chin-min (TB)
Yen Hsin-shu (TB)
Chou Jun-san (TB assistant coach)
Rex Manu (former CBA player with Hung-kuo Elephants)
Hsiung Jen-cheng (former player with Hung-fu Rams)

Team B:
Scottie Pippen
B.J. Armstrong
Hsu Chi-chan (BOT)
Doug Creighton (Pure Youth)
Cheng Jen-wei (dmedia)
Chang Yu-lin (Pure Youth)
Chen Shun-hsiang (BOT)
Ouyang Ching-heng (dmedia)
Chien Ming-fu (BOT)
Cheng Chih-lung (former CBA player with Hung-kuo Elephants, current Taiwan Mobile head coach)
Huang Chun-hsiung (former CBA player with Hung-kuo Elephants, current Taiwan Mobile assistant)
Liu Yi-hsiang (former CBA player with Hung-kuo Elephants)

One interesting thing though, the ticket price for the Legends Games will range between NT$ 4,000-8,000 (USD$131-263). I'm wondering will anyone actually buy the tickets to watch these guys play? I mean, these players were all great players, but the ticket prices are simply too high for kids and middle-class fans.

CTBA extends Korean head coach for two years

CTBA (Chinese Taipei Basketball Association) President Wang Jen-da said yesterday that the association has reached a decision to extend Korean head coach Chung Kwang-suk for another two years with Taiwan men's national team until 2010 amid criticism over Chung's performance.

Under Chung, Taiwan NT finished an all-time worst last place in the eight-team 2008 Jones Cup tournament. However, Chung led Taiwan NT to the sixth-place in the 2007 Asian Championship, Taiwan's best finish in years.

Fans and media criticized Chung for his in-game substitutions, rotations and his communication with players since Chung doesn't speak Mandarin and has to go through a translator to communicate with players.

Personally, I support CTBA's decision. Taiwan NT was without almost all its core players -- including Chen Hsin-an, Tien Lei, Lin Chih-chieh, Wu Tai-hao, Tseng Wen-ting and Ho Shou-cheng -- in the Jones Cup. The Jones Cup team was quickly assembled and was at best a second national team.

For Chung's six-man rotation in the Asian Championship last year, he said that he would only put those players who can play on the court. And I support that. On top of that, Chung knew he had to do well in the AC to convince the CTBA about his ability to lead.

Taiwan's zone defense did improve under Chung. At least that's my observation. But it's important for him to be able to spend more time with the players and observe Taiwanese basketball. It will be difficult as the SBL season lasts six months and most players have to play for their college team in the university league.

Wang also said yesterday that Cheng Chih-lung, Chou Jun-san, Chiu Ta-tsun and Hsu Chin-tse will be young coaches the CTBA looked to develop in the future.

Taiwan will field two national teams in the Jones Cup next year, he said.

Chung led Korea NT to 1997 Asian Championship title, which remained to this day the only time Korea had defeated China in the Asian Championship in the last 40 years, and an appearance in 1998 World Championship, finishing 16th among 16 teams.

(Photo source: Liberty Times)

Video: Taiwan vs. Australia U-19 title game

I divided the game into eight parts and uploaded them to Veoh.com Jones Cup channel here. Once again, five of the eight parts were not validated. I don't know why.

Anyway, you can view Part 1, 4 and 5 at this moment. Part 5 showed the first 10 minutes of the third quarter. I am very sorry about the failed parts. I'm not planning on uploading them again.

View the part 4 video below:

 

Finally, I have been pretty busy in the past few days and was not able to write more about the women’s games. And I was only able to record two games (both Taiwan vs. Australia).

Taiwan wins Jones Cup, MVP goes to Chiang

Taiwan 55-54 Australia U-19 NT

The win was not pretty. Taiwan's senior women's NT barely got past Australia U-19 NT 55-54 in the 2008 Jones Cup title game -- after Australia lost 203cm center Elizabeth Cambage in the second quarter.

But a win is still a win. The thrilling victory gave Taiwan NT its sixth title in the Jones Cup and the first champion since 2005.

Australia, which trailed almost the entire second half, rallied behind Stephanie Cumming's 12 points in the final quarter. Cumming scored seven straight points as Australia took the lead 54-53 with 20.7 seconds to go.

Taiwan showed its poise and experience down the stretch. Center Cheng Hui-yun hit Chu Yung-hsuan, who was left wide open at the baseline, and Chu knocked down her only field goal in the game with 6.1 seconds left to put Taiwan on top, 55-54.

Australia tried to let Cumming take the last shot but Taiwan forward Tsai Pei-chen fouled Cumming to stop the game clock. Australia had to hurry a desperation shot with time running out.

The result could've been different if Elizabeth Cambage did not sprain her ankle early in the second period. Cambage did not play again.

Forward Chiang Feng-chun, the tournament MVP, scored 10 straight as Taiwan surged past Australia 29-26 and maintain the advantage until the final two minutes.

Chaing had 19 points and 14 rebounds. Cheng Hui-yun and Tsai Pei-chen had 10 points each. Chu Yung-hsuan had three points, four steals and six rebounds. Taiwan's defense held Australia to 31% shooting.

Australia was led by Cumming's 17 points. Without Cambage, it was outrebounded by Taiwan 45-36.

Woori Bank 84-62 Malaysia NT

The joy of observing Korean basketball is their ability to shoot the lights out, which was the case Friday night when Woori Bank made 17 threes in a 22-point rout over the Malaysia NT in the third-place game of the 2008 Jones Cup women's group.

Nobody expected Malaysia to win, actually, although everyone agreed that the Malaysia team has shown much improvement over the years.

Kim Eun-hye had 20 points, including six three-pointers, and 12 rebounds while Kim Sun-hye and Kim Eun-kyoung had 15 each for Woori Bank.

Thoh Chai-ling scored 16 points for Malaysia, the only winless team in the four-team tourney.

Women Jones Cup images

Woori Bank vs. Malaysia.

A Malaysian player.

Kew Suik-may, Malaysia.

Cheng Hui-yun, Taiwan.

Chien Wei-chuan, Taiwan.

Chien Wei-chuan, Taiwan.

Chien Wei-chuan, Taiwan.

Chu Yung-hsuan, Taiwan.

Taiwan edges Australia for 2008 Jones Cup crown

Chu Yung-hsuan made a go-ahead basket, her only field goal in the game, with 6.1 seconds to go as Taiwan beat Australia U-19 NT 55-54 in the 2008 Jones Cup women's group final and won the title for the first time since 2005.

Trailing for almost the entire second half, Australia took a 54-53 lead with 40 seconds remaining after Stephanie Cumming scored five of her 12 points in the fourth quarter.

Chu, who had three points, 4 steals and 6 boards in the game, made the game-changing basket with 6.1 seonds left and Taiwan sure knew who Australia would go to. Tsai Pei-chen intentionally fouled Cumming in the ensuing possession as Australia struggled to get off the desperation shot in the final seconds.

Korea's Woori Bank beat Malaysia 84-62 in the bronze medal game.

More summary to come later...

Final placing:
1. Taiwan
2. Australia
3. Woori Bank
4. Malaysia

Women Jones Cup Day 3-4 results

July 22

Woori Bank 74-60 Malaysia
Taiwan 80-73 Australia

Final Preliminary standings:
1. Taiwan 3-0
2. Australia 2-1
3. Woori Bank 1-2
4. Malaysia 0-3

July 23: Semifinals

Taiwan 78-42 Malaysia

Australia 96-81 Woori Bank

Women Jones Cup Day 2 images

Chien Wei-chuan, Taiwan.

Elizabeth Cambage, Australia.

Kim Eun-hye (Woori Bank) vs. Cambage.

Cambage.

Chen Yu-chun, Taiwan.

Kim Eun-hye, Woori Bank.

Chiang Feng-chun, Taiwan.

(Photo credit: Yam Sports, Yahoo Taiwan Sports)

Women Jones Cup Day 2: Taiwan beat Malaysia

Taiwan 95-42 Malaysia

Taiwan NT had no problem against Malaysia, beating the visitor 95-42 for its second straight win in the Jones Cup.

Taiwan opened the game in the first quarter 21-2 and closed the game with a 29-6 4th quarter. Chaing Feng-chun had 18 points while Wu Min-fang had 17 points including five three-pointers.

Ang Siew-teng led Malaysia with 10 points.

Taiwan NT has won the last seven matchups with Malaysia. In the Asian Championship in Incheon, Korea last year, Taiwan defeated Malaysia 107-54.

Taiwan assistant coach Wang Ling credited Malaysia for its improvement, saying that some of the threes Malaysia had taken in the game were actually "four-pointers." Malaysia is obviously trying to overcome its lack of height with better perimeter game, she said.

Australia 76-72 Woori Bank (44-32)

Australia U-19 NT players needed to learn a basic fact: Koreans -- men or women -- can shoot. And they were lucky to know that without losing.

203cm center Elizabeth Cambage scored eight points in the first four minutes of the game as Australia dominated with its height advantage and led 44-32 at halftime.

Koreans made a furious rally in the fourth. Kim Eun-hye made five three-pointers in the first six minutes of the final period to help Woori Bank cut the deficit down to four points with 2:30 to go. Unfortunately, that was as close as they could get.

Kim scored 19 of her game-high 27 points in the fourth quarter but that wasn't enough to stop Woori Bank from dropping its second straight game.

Cambage had 24 points for Australia, which will meet Taiwan for preliminary top seed tomorrow.

Standings:
1. Australia 2-0
1. Taiwan 2-0
3. Woori Bank 0-2
3. Malaysia 0-2

Jones Cup women’s Day 1 images

(Photo source: Apple Daily)

Chien Wei-chuan, Taiwan.

Chiang Feng-chun, Taiwan.

Wu Min-fang, Taiwan.

Elizabeth Cambage, Australia.

Caitlin Rowe, Australia.

2008 Jones Cup men's group results

Final placing:
1. Jordan NT
2. Athletes in Action
3. Australia U-19 NT
4. Qatar NT
5. Egypt NT
6. Kazakhstan NT
7. Korea University Select Team
8. Taiwan NT

Final Day
Final: Jordan 93-91(OT) AIA
3/4: Australia 91-88(OT) Qatar
5/6: Egypt 98-89(OT) Kazakhstan
7/8: Korea 83-74 Taiwan

Playoffs
Semi: AIA 97-90 QAT
Semi: Jordan 75-60 Australia
5-8: Kazakhstan 66-56 Taiwan
5-8: Egypt 85-81 Korea

Final Prelim Standings
1. Athletes in Action 6-1
2. Jordan NT 5-2
3. Australia U-19 NT 4-3
4. Qatar NT 4-3
5. Egypt NT 4-3
6. Kazakhstan NT 3-4
7. Taiwan NT 1-6
8. Korea University Select Team 1-6

About Jones Cup women’s group

Words for fans, readers and players' parents and friends:

-- As what it was for the men's competition, I will try to cover the women's group, record and maybe upload the game videos, but there's no guarantee because I'm busy preparing for going to Beijing.

-- The video will be uploaded to this Veoh.com channel.

-- You can download the game stats from the official web site here or the file-sharing web site I use here. Organizers will place them for download after the games. Make sure you check back often.

-- Live webcast, online stats and boxscores will not be available.

-- I know, the official web site and the English coverage sucks. But I guess that's why I'm here.. :)

Women Jones Cup Day 1: Taiwan, Australia cruise

Taiwan 85-60 Woori Bank (35-29)

Chiang Feng-chun scored 16 of her game-high 24 points in the third quarter as Taiwan NT shook off Korea's Woori Bank in the second half en route to an 85-60 opening win. Chiang, a 27-year-old 184cm forward, also had 9 boards and 7 assists.

Donning their intriguing pink jerseys, Woori Bank led 13-10 in the end of the first quarter. But it didn't take long for the home team to turn the tide. Taiwan took the lead 26-22 after Wu Min-fang's consecutive threes and never trailed.

Taiwan controlled the boards by a 54-27 margin.

Woori Bank entered the tournament without some of its core players, who are playing for Beijing-bound Korea NT. Veteran Hong Hyun-hee paced the team with 16 points.

 

Australia U-19 NT 81-62 Malaysia NT

Australia U-19 NT towered over Malaysians with its height advantage for an easy win, leading in the rebounding department 58-26.

Australian head coach Dean Kinsman said that he was happy to know that Australia men's U-19 team played well last week here, finishing for third in the men's group, and hoped his team do well too.

Five players on Malaysia NT did not come to Taiwan with the team, said Malaysia head coach Yoong Sze-yuin, who is acutally an assistant coach. The head coach stayed in Malaysia because of an election of the Malaysian Basketball Federation, she said.

Standings:
1. Australia U-19 NT 1-0
1. Taiwan NT 1-0
3. Malaysia NT 0-1
3. Woori Bank 0-1

(In picture: Chiang Feng-chun, photo credit: Yam Sports)