Tuesday, February 26, 2008

07-08 UBA: TPEC pushes win streak to 152 games


(NTNU's Su Yi-chieh, source: UBA)

Lin Tsun-ching scored 14 of his game-high 28 points in the 4th quarter as Taipei Physical Education College (TPEC) narrowly defeated Hsing Wu College 85-74 to push its winning streak to 152 games Monday, the opening day of 2007-08 University Basketball Alliance (UBA) quarterfinal round.

Yulon guard Lee Hsueh-lin, a senior, added 17 points, 18 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals for TPEC.

Eight men's teams and eight women's teams entered the quarterfial round which adopted a single round robin format. The quarterfinal finish will determine the playoff seeds.

Perennial power TPEC will try to claim its thirteenth consecutive UBA crown, but it will be a challegnge this year as it lost a number of players to graduation, including center Tsun Wen-din and guard Chen Shih-nian. Center Hong Ying-che and guard Chen Li-wei dropped out of school while Chang Yu-lin was sidelined due to injury.

That left TPEC with only five current SBL players on its roster, although that will probably be enough to defend its title.

TPEC's strongest rival is expected to be NTNU, which almost features an All-SBL roster. NTNU has Su Yi-chieh, Chen Tse-wei, Yue Ying-li and Lin Yi-hui from Dacin; Wu Dai-hao from Taiwan Beer and Chien Jia-hong from Pure Youth.

Fu Jen University and CCU were also capable of surprising TPEC, which will probably see its winning streak snapped in this quarterfinal round.

Participating Teams:

-- Men's Level One:
National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU)
Fu Jen University (FJU)
Chinese Culture University (CCU)
National Kaohsiung Normal University (NKNU)
Taiwan Sports University (TSU)
Taipei Physical Education College (TPEC)
Hsing Wu College (HWC)
National Taiwan University of Arts (NTUA)

-- Women's Level One:
National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU)
Shih Hsin University (SHU)
Chinese Culture University (CCU)
National Taipei University (NTU)
Taiwan Sports University (TSU)
Taipei Physical Education College (TPEC)
National Taipei University of Education (NTUE)
National College of Physical Education and Sports (NCPES)