Monday, March 30, 2009

March 29 SBL results

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Dacin 81-71 BOT
Dacin: B. Allen 20p+18rb, Chang Chih-feng 30p
BOT: Chen SHun-hsiang 24p, Lin Chun-feng 19p

KKL 89-61 TM
KKL: Cheng Jen-wei 19p, Chen Ching-hwan 14p
TM: Hsu Tse-shin 15p, Yen Cheng-hong 13p

TB 93-92 PY
TB: Wu Tai-hao 23p, Lin Chih-chieh 20p+8rb, Ho Shou-cheng 17p+8rb, Yang Yu-ming 12p
PY: Chien Chia-hong 23p, Lin Tsun-ching 18p, Tsai Wen-cheng 16p, James Mao 10p

Standing:
Yulon 14-4
Dacin 15-5
TB 14-6
KKL 8-11
PY 7-11
TM 5-14
BOT 3-15

(Photo: Yahoo Taiwan Sports)

Sunday, March 29, 2009

TB upset Dacin on Lin's three

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"The Beast" Lin Chih-chieh walked out of his slump and proved his worth, knocking down a game-winning three with 9.3 seconds to go as Taiwan Beer upset Dacin 68-67 Saturday.

In other games, Yulon almost squandered a 20-point first-half lead before holding off a BOT rally. The Pure Youth-Taiwan Mobile game became a showdown of Tsai-shin High School alumni as Chien Chia-hong, Chen Shih-chieh and Hong Chih-shan each scored 21 for PY and TM's Ouyang Ching-heng tallied a season-high 29 points.

Dacin 68-67 TB
TB: Lin Chih-chieh 18p, Yang Ching-min 16p, Ho Shou-cheng 13p
Dacin: B. Allen 21p+17rb+3blk, Chang Chih-feng 17p, Lin Yi-hui 12p, Tien Lei 9p+7rb

Yulon 73-62 BOT
Yulon: Tseng Wen-ting 18p+9rb+5s, Lee Hsueh-lin 19p+5a, Lu Cheng-ju 15p
BOT: Chen Shun-hsiang 18p, Doug Creighton 11p+8rb

PY 97-93 TM
PY: Chien Chia-hong 21p, Hong Chih-shan 21p, Chen Shih-chieh 21p
TM: Ouyang Ching-heng 29p

(Photo: SBL)

March 27 SBL results

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Dacin 94-63 Yulon
Dacin: Tien Lei 20+8rb, B. Allen 18p+12rb, Huang Bao-tse 17p
Yulon: Yang Che-yi 11p, Lu Cheng-ju 11p

TB 101-85 KKL
TB: Lin Chih-chieh 27p+9rb+4s, Yang Ching-min 25p, Yang Yu-ming 15p, Ho Shou-cheng 12p+6rb
KKL: Cheng Jen-wei 21p+11rb, Chen Ching-hwan 18p

(Photo: SBL)

Saturday, March 28, 2009

SBL Notes: Boggan out?

-- BOGGAN'S STATUS: Local media reported that U.S. import Mario Boggan could be released by Taiwan Mobile as early as next week due to Boggan's subpar performance.

Boggan, who was out of Oklahoma State, has appeared in 10 of TM's 18 games so far this season and averaged 13.3 points and 6.2 rebounds.

TM head coach Cheng Chih-lung was quoted as saying that Boggan has never lived up to TM's expectation and his physical condition has been questionable.

Boggan will be the second import fired by Taiwan Mobile this season if he is released next week. TM let go 6-10 German-Taiwanese center Juefan Geiger earlier this year.

-- YANG JOINS TB: Ex-Taiwan National Yang Yu-ming returned to Taiwan and joined Taiwan Beer after spending a season with Jilin Northeast Tigers of China's CBA.

Yang appeared in 49 games and averaged 8.5 points, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals in 24 minutes per game at shooting guard for Jilin, which missed the playoffs with 23 wins and 27 losses.

Two Taiwanese point guards also spent time in China this year. Wang Shin-kai turned in 6.6 points in 24 games he's played for Yunnan Honghe Running Bulls (6-44) while Sun Hwan-bo averaged 1.5 points in eight games with Shanxi Zhongyu (26-24).

-- PAY DAY FOR KKL: United Daily News reported that KKL players will -- finally -- get their first paychecks in almost six months since the liquor company agreed to sponsor the team.

Player salaries have been withheld by the company due to unclear status of TV broadcast negotiation. As ESPN Taiwan and SBL Committee have reached agreement once again last week, the company will be sending out paychecks, KKL team management said.

Imagine what it will be like if you haven't got paid for a few months. Life must be difficult during the last four and a half months for KKL players. Seldom-used reserve Chang Ming-che has signed a 40-day deal to work as an A/C installer, local media reported.

Song-shan HS basketball team documentary


Watch Song-shan High School Basketball in Sports  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

This is a 15-minute short documentary about Song-shan High School basketball team made by NIKE Taiwan during -- I guess -- the 2007 season.

As Song-shan HS won its first HBL title in school history last week, it was special at this moment to take a look back at the film that documented the lowest point of its basketball program.

Long known as a basketball powerhouse in Taiwan men's high school basketball circle, Song-shan HS was out of the final eight in 2006. The poor finish and the HBL game format made the 2006 Song-shan HS team the second squad in school history that had to start its season in the qualification round.

The team finished for 5th-place that year, the same placing as in 2008. And you know the rest of the story. Song-shan, the school that had to play the qualifying round in 2007, was finally on the top of the HBL.

Jet Chang wins PacWest Freshman honor

BYU Hawaii's 6-3 guard Jet (Tsung-hsien) Chang was named NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference Freshman of the Year, winning the honor by averaging 12.5 points in 20.4 minutes per contest. (See Alves, Five Others Honored by Conference)

Chang became the second Taiwanese player since 6-8 forward/center Wu Tai-hao in 2006 to win the Freshman of the Year award for the Hawaii school. Wu returned to Taiwan after his sophomore year and is now playing for Taiwan Beer.

The explosive Chang showed a glimpse of promise in his freshman year, pouring in a career-high 32 points in the Feb. 28 game vs. Chaminade and shot 51.8% from the field for the season.

BYUH concluded the 2008-09 season 27-2 following the 59-58 loss to Cal Poly-Pomona at NCAA Div-II West Regional third round. The Seasiders advanced to the postseason after winning the PacWest Conference with a perfect 12-0 record.

Chang had 12 points in 16 minutes in Seasiders' 98-84 opening win over Humboldt State and 19 points in 27 minutes in the 84-71 win vs. Cal State-Dominguez Hills. However, he failed to score in the season finale.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Wu Chih-wei wins Week 8 BOW

WCW

Yulon backup center Wu Chih-wei was named Week 8 Baller of the Week Monday after averaging 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in 31.5 minutes last week. It was the first individual award in his professional career, which included the old CBA and the current SBL era.

Wu, 33, had his season-high 27 points last week and beat out KKL forward Chen Jing-hwan in the media voting 13-11 to win the weekly award.

Monday, March 23, 2009

March 22 SBL results

Yulon 108-95 PY
KKL 92-75 Dacin
TB 91-86 BOT

Pu Men wins 2009 HBL women's title

The story of a Cinderella team winning three games in three days for an improbable crown did not materialize. Yang-ming HS came up one win short of the making of an amazing story, losing 73-48 to Pu Men High School in HBL women's title game Sunday.

Pu Men dominated the game with its height advantage from start to finish. The southern school led 37-15 at halftime and never let Yang-ming get close. In fact, Pu Men HS was also a Cinderella team, winning a title six years after the school was established by a wealthy Buddhism organization. It made its first final four appearance just last year.

Center Chang Yi-lin had 22 points and 8 rebounds and received the MVP honor. Forward Wei Yu-chun had 26 points, shooting 6-of-10 from three.

The title was of course special for the players, but it's even more special for Pu Men head coach Lee Heng-shu, a former South Korean national who won Olympic Silver before coming to Taiwan for developing her professional career. Lee later became a head coach and now speaks fluent Mandarin.

Song-shan HS wins first ever HBL men's title

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The monkey was finally off their backs. Song-shan High School used a 8-0 run in the last two minutes en route to a 69-61 victory over Nen-jen HS in the HBL championship game and won its first ever HBL title in school history.

Song-shan finished the season 16-0 and gave head coach Huang Wan-long his first title ring in 12 years with the Taipei City school.

20090322000103M It has been five years since Song-shan last played in the final four, and it has been 10 years since Song-shan last played in the national title game. In between, the best finish it has ever achieved was the fifth place. Twice it was out of the final eight.

Which was a disgrace for a school that has been known for hard-nosed defense and has produced famous alumni like Chen Hsin-an, who was at the game Sunday night to show his support. Somehow, Song-shan always lost on buzzer-beaters, untimely losses and missed free-throws.

SN01_011San yi-ching, a undersized 193cm center, was named MVP after a 16-point, 6 rebounds outing. He had 15 and 5 in the semifinal win over defending champ Nan-shan HS.

With a 13-point lead evaporated and the game tied at 61 all, Song-shan players showed a soldout crowd how determined they wanted to bring home the title this time. San Yi-ching scored on an offensive rebound before Shih Jin-yao's 3-pointer and Lu Kwan-liang's fastbreak layup. Shih then made one of two free-throws.

The scoring spurt in 60 seconds decided the outcome and put a footnote on Song-shan's spectacular undefeated season. This time they brought their A game when it mattered most. No more missed free-throws and outside shots. No more letdowns.

However, it seemed Song-shan was going to have another breakdown in the second half. "The Green Shield, " the school's nickname for its tenacious man-to-man defense, led 39-26 early in the third quarter but Nen-jen point guard Chen Kuei-hsiang drained four threes to make the game interesting.

SN01_013 Chen Kuei-hsiang, who almost single-handedly led Nen-jen to a unbelievable comeback, made the last of his game-high six 3-pointers with six minutes to go to tie the score.

Chen finished with 25 points, five boards, four assists and two steals while freshman phenom Chen Ying-jun scored 23. The "Chen combo" combined for 48 of Nen-jen's 61 points.

Hu Lung-mao, Song-shan's another undersized center at 190cm, scored 12 points to go with two blocks. Shih Jin-yao added 6 points and five rebounds.

I still remember watching Song-shan players crying in the locker room after one of those heartbreaking losses. That is why my heart goes out for Song-shan boys and Huang Wan-long, a friend of mine. After all these years of blood, sweat and tears, they deserved this trophy. No more heartbreaks.

 

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A NIKE banner saying “Dominate”.

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HBL championship trophy and banner.

SN01_002

The Green Boys are enjoying their first title.

(Photos: UDN.com, Apple Daily, CNA, Liberty Times)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Song-shan HS eyes first HBL men's title

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Can Song-shan win it all this year?

Song-shan HS routed two-time defending champion Nan-shan HS 78-52 Saturday in HBL men's semifinal and will meet Nen-jen HS, which beat Chiang-shu HS 58-47, in the national championship game later today.

The Taipei City school is back in the final after 10 years and is eyeing its first ever men's title in school history. The 16th straight win and a perfect 16-0 season will do just that.

It's a long time coming. Skeptics kept saying that Song-shan was not able to win because it paid too much attention on defense and too little on offense. But as far as I know, defense wins games. Plus, it was probably the only way Song-shan has to play because it's always difficult for a public school to win the recruiting battle here.

SN01_006 But maybe this is the year for Song-shan, which has produced so many talented players -- including Chen Hsin-an, Ho Shou-cheng, Hsu Hao-cheng and Hsu Tse-hsin -- before but yet to win a HBL champion.

Maybe this is the year Song-shan could shout out to the world and tell people that it is not just a school paying attention to defense, a trademark under head coach Huang Wan-lung.

Its offensive game has definitely improved this year. And it has defeated Nen-jen twice this year by the scores of 74-49 and 56-54. I would say Song-shan will be the favorite to win it all this year unless crazy things (see women's semifinals?) happen.

Nen-jen HS was basically a Yulon junior team. Its head coach Lin Cheng-ming is a Yulon assistant.

However, if Yang-ming HS can make it to the women's final, there's no doubt in my mind that Song-shan can hoist up the championship trophy tonight. They have my blessing.

(Photos: Liberty Times, Apple Daily)

Cinderella Yang-ming HS makes first ever HBL final

4803164-2065919

Girls from Yang-ming High School were not satisfied with just one upset win, so they decided to win one more.

The little-known school shocked the entire basketball community in consecutive days with a 47-43 win over powerful Hai-shan HS in the HBL women's semifinal Saturday and advanced to the final for the first time in history.

Yang-ming beat Tamsui Vocational HS in the quarterfinal round Friday.

It was quite a feat for a school which could only recruit "players other schools did not take, " said Yang-ming head coach Lee Tai-ying, whose ill father has been in hospital before the HBL playoffs.

The school located in Taipei City, which finished 6th-place in 2007 and 2008, will meet another Cinderella school Pu Men HS in the title game Sunday. Pu Men beat Hujiang HS 68-62 in the other semifinal game.

Pu Men, a southern school established by a wealthy Buddhism organization, also made it to the final for the first time after a third-place finish last season.

No matter what happens on Sunday, the HBL will have a new women's champion. For the past eight years, no schools other than Hai-shan, Tamsui and Jinou has ever taken the trophies home.

Hai-shan was looking for its fourth straight women's title before the semifinal loss, which snapped its 26-game winning streak.

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Yang-ming players celebrated victory.

SN01_009

Hai-shan players after the loss.

SN01_010

Hai-shan fans.

SN01_012

Pu Men beat Hujiang.

SN01_013

How many times you’ve seen monks in the stands?

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One more…

(Photos: UDN.com, Liberty Times, Apple Daily)

Three exciting finishes in one day

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Wu Yong-jen (Photo: SBL)

Those who paid for SBL tickets got their worth Saturday, when all three games came down to the final minute. That’s more than you can ask for in terms of SBL basketball.

Bank of Taiwan hung on for a 78-77 win, its second win in March, despite a furious rally from KKL which has lost three straight.

7103801_6a668579da Dacin also edged underrated Pure Youth 95-91 thanks to some crucial foul shots made by Chang Chih-feng, who was perfect 13-for-13 from the free-throw line. The Tigers is now leading the league 13-3.

Wu Chien-lung made the last of his four 3-pointers in the second half with 15 seconds to go to cut the deficit to two before Chang Chih-feng sank the ensuing free-throws to ice the victory. Wu scored his career-high 30 points in the absence of Chien Chia-hong.

Point guard Wu Yong-jen made the game-winning three with 32 seconds to go as Taiwan Mobile snapped its six-game losing streak with a 73-70 win over defending champ Taiwan Beer.

BOT 78-77 KKL
BOT: Hsu Chih-chan 18p+8rb, Lin Chun-feng 13p, Chang Jung-hsuan 12p, Chang Po-sheng 12p
KKL: Shan Wei-fan 16+7rb, Cheng Jen-wei 13p+15rb, Chen Ching-hwan 12p+7rb

Dacin 95-91 PY
Dacin: Chang Chih-feng 23p+7rb+5a, Tien Lei 22p+11rb, B. Allen 18p+11rb+4blk, Lin Yi-hui 15p
PY: Wu Chien-lung 30p+11rb+5a, Tsai Wen-cheng 24p+8rb, James Mao 13p+4rb

TM 73-70 TB
TM: Hsu Tse-hsin 13p, Lo Hsin-liang 13p, Liu Sheng-yao 13p, Wu Yong-jen 10p, M. Boggan DNP-illness
TB: Yang Ching-min 17p, Pan Jen-de 16p, Ho Shou-cheng 13p, Lin Chih-chieh 5p+8rb

Standing:
1. Dacin 13-3
2. Yulon 12-3
3. TB 10-6
4. PY 6-9
5. KKL 6-10
6. TM 5-12
7. BOT 3-12

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Tien's 20 lifts Dacin

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Tien Lei (Photo: SBL)

Tien Lei had 20 points and five blocks and helped Dacin to a 67-58 win over long-time rival Taiwan Beer. Dacin and Yulon both won Friday night and are now tied at 12-3.

Chang Chih-feng added 15 points for the winner while TB was led by Yang Ching-min's 21. Ho Shou-cheng had 13 and 8 and Lin Chih-chieh 10 and 8 for TB.

Short-handed Yulon routed Taiwan Mobile 81-51 in the absence of Chen Hsin-an, Chen Chih-chung and Lee Chi-yi as Chou Shih-yuan picked up the scoring with 18 points and Lee Hsueh-lin added 16 points and 8 assists.

Chen Hsin-an sat out again due to knee injury. Chen Chih-chung missed the game because he was coaching Tai-shan HS in the HBL men's quarterfinal round. Lee Chi-yi did not play due to family matters.

Taiwan Mobile, which has lost six straight, was also plagued by the absence of a pair of key players. Ouyang Ching-heng was lost for ankle injury while Mario Boggan sat out due to illness.

Hsu Tse-hsin led TM with 9 point and 10 boards.

NBA exhibition game coming to Taiwan

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Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets (Photo: NBA.com)

Chinese-language Apple Daily reported that NBA is staging an exhibition game in Taipei in October, the first time the American basketball league setting up a pre-season game in Taiwan.

According to the report, Denver Nuggets will meet Indiana Pacers on Oct. 8 at Taipei Arena, which has a basketball capacity of around 13,000. The teams will meet in Beijing again on Oct. 11.

Taiwan will be the third Asian country to land NBA exhibition games, following Japan and China, the report said, adding that details of ticket and game information will be announced next month in a press conference.

NBA Taiwan set up an All-Star Game featuring NBA players such as Gary Payton and Ray Allen in Taiwan in September 2001. The game was later cancelled due to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

HBL men's, women's final four set

Yang-ming HS upset favorite Tamsui Vocational HS 72-71 Friday for its first ever HBL women's final four appearance in school history and a reminder that we have a mini-version March Madness here in Taiwan.

Yang-ming advanced to the women's final four along with defending champion Hai-shan HS, Pu Men HS and Hujiang HS. Hai-shan beat Miaoli Vocational HS 59-49 while Pu Men, which finished for third-place last season, knocked out Jinou HS. Hujiang beat Taipei First Girls' HS 64-47.

The upset loss was hard to take for Tamsui Vocational HS, which won six women's titles in school history and was looking for the third consecutive womens final appearance. The women's basketball powerhouse had three titles, three runner-ups and two 3rd-place finishes in the last eight years.

The men's and women's single-elimination quarterfinal round gave us another surprise when Nen-jen HS eliminated Pintung HS 70-45. As all final four men's teams coming from the North, the 12-year streak of the North-South men's final has been snapped.

Men's final four teams are Nen-jen HS, Song-shan HS, Nan-shan HS and Chiang-shu HS.

Song-shan HS beat Keelung Commercial and Industrial Vocational HS 50-41 for its 14th straight win and the first final four berth in five years. Song-shan, which has produced many star players in the past but has yet to take home the HBL title, is the odds-on favorite to win it all this year.

Two-time defending champion Nan-shan HS got past Tai-shan HS 61-51 for its sixth straight appearance in the final four and a shot for the sixth title in school history.

For the past dozen years, school in Southern Taiwan produced numerous talented players such as Tien Lei, Chou Shih-yuan, Yang Yu-min and Jet Chang, who is now playing for BYU-Hawaii in the U.S. However, they have not been doing good in recruiting as most kids were recruited by the schools in the North.

Gone are the glory days of Pintung HS, which almost guaranteed for a spot in the final four in the last decade, and San-min HS, which Tien Lei and Chou Shih-yuan helped bring home two HBL titles. Kao-yuan HS and Hsin-jung HS have not been doing as well either.

Let's hope for a reemergence from the South. Most people would agree that, compared to the North, players from southern Taiwan always bring a more exciting style of play and passion for the game.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Yulon beats KKL on Chou's buzzer-beater

Chou Shih-yuan tipped in Tseng Win-ting's miss at the buzzer as Yulon edged KKL 87-85 Sunday in one of the most exciting games of the season. Yulon tied Dacin at the top with 11-3 after the win.

KKL had a 12-2 run early in the 4th quarter to break the game open and led by as many as 13 points. However, Tseng Wen-ting refused to lose, scoring 11 points to spark Yulon's furious rally. Yulon took the lead 85-83 with less than a minute to go.

Chen Ching-hwan hit a layup with 27.4 seconds to go to tie the score at 85. Yulon decided to go to Tseng in its last possession. Tseng's shot bounced off the rim with time running out but KKL, thinking that the game would go to overtime, left Chou Chih-yuan wide open underneath as Chou banked in the game winner.

In other games, Taiwan Beer made 10 3-pointers in a 92-85 win over Taiwan Mobile, which has dropped five consecutive game and was 1-8 in its last nine games.

Pure Youth bagged its second win of the week with a 94-77 victory over BOT. PY is now at 6-9, only a half game behind 4th place KKL.

Yulon 87-85 KKL
Yulon: Tseng Wen-ting 28p+8rb, Yang Che-yi 14p, Wu Chih-wei 14p, Chen Hsin-an 11p+7rb+7a
KKL: Chen Ching-hwan 23p, Cheng Jen-wei 22p

TB 92-85 TM
TB: Yang Ching-min 28p, Wu Tai-hao 16p+9rb+4blk, Ho Shou-cheng 14p
TM: M. Boggan 19p+10rb, Ouyang Ching-heng 12p+8rb, Wu Yong-jen 11p+7a

PY 94-77 BOT
PY: Chien Chia-hong 17p, Lin Ching-pang 16p+7rb, James Mao 12p, Tsai Wen-cheng 12p
BOT: Hsu Chih-chan 16p, Chen Shun-hsiang 15p, Lin Chun-feng 14p+7rb

Standing:
Dacin 11-3
Yulon 11-3
TB 10-4
PY 6-8
KKL 6-9
TM 4-11
BOT 2-12

Yang Ching-min wins BOW again

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Taiwan Beer forward/guard Yang Ching-min became the first player to win multiple Baller of the Week awards and a monthly MVP this season Monday, capturing the weekly honor by averaging 24 points and four rebounds in two games this past week.

Yang, who is currently leading the SBL in scoring, was named February MVP last week before beating out Pure Youth forward Chien Chia-hong to win his second weekly award with 23 points in the media voting. Chien was second with 11 points.

(Photo: SBL)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

SBL games back on air

The SBL game broadcast was back on ESPN Taiwan after a negotiation between CTBA (Chinese Taipei Basketball Association) with the television network. However, no one is sure whether both sides have signed written contract this time.

ESPN Taiwan, a cable TV channel, unilaterally terminated the verbal agreement on game broadcast with the SBL Committee last week.

ESPN Taiwan said last week that the SBL Committee was privately working on a deal to have a terrestrial TV station as its broadcast partner, which ESPN Taiwan claimed a breach of agreement.

TB spoils Chen's return

Chen Hsin-an returned to the court for the first time since the season opener and had an above-average performance of 18 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, but Taiwan Beer spoiled the party with a 82-79 win as Yulon was knocked down from the No. 1 spot it claimed one day earlier.

Dacin, which defeated Taiwan Mobile 92-76 Saturday, was back on top at 11-3 and Yulon (10-3) fell a half game behind.

TB opened the high-intensity game with a 19-5 run. Yulon quickly recovered and stayed close for most of the game but failed to take advantage of TB's foul trouble. Lin Chih-chieh and Wu Tai-hao were both plagued by early foul trouble. Lin had four fouls with 4:30 to go in the first half while Wu was also whistled for two quick fouls in the first half.

Tien Lei recovered from the worst game of his career and chipped in 18 points, including four dunks. Byron Allem also had his best game of the season, scoring 21 and pulling down 11 boards, in the win that handed TM its 4th consecutive loss.

TB 82-79 Yulon
TB: Yang Ching-min 20p, Lin Chih-chieh 16p+9rb, Ho Shou-cheng 14p
Yulon: Chen Hsin-an 18p+6rb+4a, Chen Chih-chun 18p, Yang Che-yi 16p, Tseng Wen-ting 13p+11rb

Dacin 92-76 TM
Dacin: B. Allen 21p+11rb, Tien Lei 18p+8rb, Chang Chih-feng 19p
TM: Ouyang Ching-heng 18p, M. Boggan 16p+8rb

PY 94-83 KKL
PY: Chien Chia-hong 25p+8rb+5a, Hong Chih-shan 16p, Chen Shih-chieh 14p
KKL: Hsiao Yuan-chan 14p, Lee Wei-min 13p, Shan Wei-fan 13p

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Yulon back on top after beating Dacin

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Tien Lei (Photo: SBL)

When you talk about Tien Lei's slump, usually you would imagine a game which he score less than 10 points or something like that. However, Yulon's defense took that to another level Friday night. Yulon stopped Tien from scoring, cruising to a 76-64 victory and regained the top spot on the standing with a 10-2 record.

Tien Lei set his career-low when he missed all eight field goal attempts and failed to score for Dacin, which lost its No. 1 seat with 10 wins and three losses, a half game behind Yulon.

Hsu Chih-chan's four points and a game-winning block saved the day for Bank of Taiwan, which snapped its 8-game losing streak after a 91-89 win over Taiwan Mobile.

Yulon 76-64 Dacin
Yulon : Tseng Wen-ting 16p, Chen Chih-chun 15p+7a, Chou Shih-yuan 14p
Dacin: Chang Chih-feng 14p+9rb+5a, Su Yi-chieh 14p, Lin Yi-hui 13p

BOT 91-89 TM
BOT: Hsu Chih-chan 24p+9rb, Chen Shun-hsiang 21p, Lin Chun-feng 15p+5rb+6a, Chang Po-sheng 12p
TM: M. Boggan 22p+11rb, Hsu Wei-sheng 15p, Ouyang Ching-heng 15p

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

SBL Stats leaders

Scoring

Rank

Name

Team

Games

Total

Avg.

1

Yang Ching-min

TB

12

254

21.17

2

Chang Chih-feng

Dacin

12

239

19.92

3

Tseng Wen-ting

Yulon

11

188

17.09

4

Lin Chih-chieh

TB

12

199

16.58

5

Tien Lei

Dacin

12

197

16.42

6

Chen Shun-hsiang

BOT

12

183

15.25

7

Wu Yong-jen

TM

12

179

14.92

8

Hsu Chih-chan

BOT

11

161

14.64

9

Chou Shih-yuan

Yulon

11

156

14.18

10

Chen Ching-hwan

KKL

13

184

14.15

11

Cheng Jen-wei

KKL

13

181

13.92

12

Chen Chih-chun

Yulon

9

118

13.11

13

Chen Shih-chieh

PY

12

156

13.00

14

Lin Kwan-lun

KKL

13

161

12.38

15

Chien Chia-hong

PY

11

134

12.18

 

Rebounding

Rank

Name

Team

Games

Total

Avg.

1

Tseng Wen-ting

Yulon

11

97

8.82

2

Mario Allen

Dacin

12

103

8.58

3

Hsu Chih-chan

BOT

11

87

7.91

4

Lin Chih-chieh

TB

12

90

7.50

5

Tien Lei

Dacin

12

87

7.25

6

Chen Ching-hwan

KKL

13

94

7.23

7

Wu Tai-hao

TB

10

72

7.20

8

Hsiao Yuan-chan

KKL

13

82

6.31

9

Hsu Wei-sheng

TM

12

69

5.75

10

Lee Chi-yi

Yulon

11

62

5.64


Assists

Rank

Name

Team

Games

Total

Avg.

1

Chen Shih-chieh

PY

12

57

4.75

2

Chen Chih-chun

Yulon

9

41

4.56

3

Wu Yong-jen

TM

12

53

4.42

4

Tseng Wen-ting

Yulon

11

38

3.45

5

Lin Kwan-lun

KKL

13

44

3.38


Steals

Rank

Name

Team

Games

Total

Avg.

1

Chang Chih-feng

Dacin

12

27

2.25

2

Lin Ching-pang

PY

11

23

2.09

3

Wang Chih-chun

Dacin

7

14

2.00

--

Lin Chih-lung

BOT

7

14

2.00

5

Wu Yong-jen

TM

12

22

1.83


Blocks

Rank

Name

Team

Games

Total

Avg.

1

Tseng Wen-ting

Yulon

11

26

2.36

2

Hsu Chih-chan

BOT

11

23

2.09

3

Wu Tai-hao

TB

10

13

1.3

4

Hsu Wei-sheng

TM

12

14

1.17

5

Lee Chi-yi

Yulon

11

12

1.09

Through March 8

Yang wins Feb. MVP, BOW goes to Chen

Taiwan Beer forward/guard Yang Ching-min won Most Valuable Player award for the month of February Tuesday. Yang, who is leading the league in scoring with 21.2 points per game, chipped in 22.8 points per game for the defending champion in February.

Yang received 31 points in the media voting and beat out Yulon center Tseng Wen-ting for the award.

KKL forward Chen Ching-hwan was named Baller of the Week Monday as he led KKL to a 2-1 week and averaged 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. The honor was the first major award this little-known 190cm forward has ever won during his basketball career.

SBL第六週最佳鬥士陳靖寰

Chen Ching-hwan

星裕行銷部副理(左)頒發支票給楊敬敏

Yang Ching-min

(Photos: SBL)

Monday, March 09, 2009

March 8 SBL results

TB 93-84 PY
TB: Yang Ching-min 25p, Wu Tai-hao 19+10rb
PY: Hong Chih-shan 18p, Chien Chia-hong 16p, Lin Ching-pang 14p

Yulon 85-74 BOT
* BOT 8th straight loss
Yulon: Tseng Wen-ting 20p+12rb, Lee Hsueh-lin 14p+4s
BOT: Chen Shun-hsiang 25p, Hsu Chih-chan 17p+8rb

KKL 102-88 TM
KKL: Wu Chia-lung 22p (6-6 3-PT), Chen Ching-hwan 20p+9rb, Hsiao Yuan-chan 12p+7rb
TM: Ou-yang Ching-heng 24p, Wu Yong-jen 19p, M. Boggan 10p

Sunday, March 08, 2009

SBL broadcast off again

A bad news for those fans like me who couldn't or didn't want to make it to the gym and watch actual SBL action: the game broadcast was out again after ESPN Taiwan unilaterally terminated the verbal agreement with the SBL Committee.

Well, this is not the first time we hear that. ESPN Taiwan agreed to broadcast SBL games about a month ago after Videoland walked out of its VERBAL agreement with the league on January 16.

The keyword here is VERBAL. These people are all businessmen. And if you are a businessman, the ground rule of all deals is that you have to put them on papers and names of both sides on the dotted lines. American high school basketball prospects walked out of oral commitments and sign with other schools, so why can't Videoland and ESPN Taiwan? Even an idiot like me knows that but not these folks.

ESPN Taiwan, a cable TV channel, cited that the SBL Committee was privately working on a deal to have a terrestrial TV station as its broadcast partner, which ESPN Taiwan claimed a breach of agreement.

Eric Sports, SBL's marketing partner this season, said in a press release that both sides agreed last month to reach the final deal before April 30 but ESPN Taiwan refused further negotiation.

It did not say when the game will be on air again.

In short, both sides said different things and had different memos on their hands. Nobody knows the truth and the negotiation process, and I doubt that anyone is interested in it. What fans want is to have the broadcast back. Simple as that.

The SBL said in its press release that ESPN Taiwan's walkout was "a humiliation for local sports". From what I've seen, the SBL was fortunate to find a broadcast partner and it's been a buyers' market amid the global financial crisis. It's only natural that the TV stations have the upper hand.

And if this is what it takes for SBL teams and the CTBA to realize that, I wouldn't mind that SBL games are off air.

March 6-7 SBL results

3/7
PY 107-95 TM
*PY's second win in its last nine games
PY: Chien Chia-hong 24p, Hong Chih-shan 20p, Lin Ching-pang 17p+6s
TM: M. Boggans 20p, Hsu Tse-hsin 19p+6a

Yulon 80-73 TB
Yulon: Yang Che-yi 20p+6rb
TB: Lin Chih-chieh 30p+6rb

Dacin 73-71 KKL
Dacin: Tien Lei 20p+11rb, Chang Chih-feng 16p+7rb

3/6
KKL 100-83 PY
*KKL had 14 blocks in the game
KKL: Cheng Jen-wei 25p, Chen Ching-hwan 20p
PY: James Mao 21p, Chen Chun-chieh 21p

Dacin 86-66 BOT
Dacin: Tien Lei 18p, B. Allen 18p+12rb
BOT: Chen Shun-hsiang 16p

Standing:
Dacin 10-2
Yulon 8-2
TB 7-4
KKL 5-7
TM 4-7
PY 4-7
BOT 1-10

Thursday, March 05, 2009

2009 UBA awards

Most Valuable Player: Wu Tai-hao, NTNU

Best Five:
Wu Tai-hao
Chien Chia-hong, NTNU
Lin Ching-pang, CCU
Wang Hao-chi, Hsing Wu Coll.
Lai Kuo-wei, NTUA

Freshman of the year: Wang Hao-chi

UBA Men: Wu Tai-hao lead NTNU to first ever UBA title

Wu Tai-hao (Source: UBA)

Wu Tai-hao had 11 points to go with five steals and three blocks and led National Taiwan Normal University to its first ever UBA men's title in school history with a 84-62 rout over Chinese Culture University Thursday night. The 6-8 center became the first player in Taiwanese basketball history to win MVP honors in high school and college levels.

NTNU finished the season with a perfect 15-0 record.

The title game was almost declared over after 10 minutes, when NTNU jumped to a 16-3 lead at the end of the first period. CCU managed to cut the deficit to single digit several times behind Lin Ching-pang's three-pointers, but NTNU answered every time with a little run with its inside advantage.

CCU had a hard time scoring inside with Wu and Chien Chia-hong control the paint. Chien tallied 15 points and six boards while Cheng Jen-wei added 13 and 9. Point guard Su Yi-chieh had 14 points, 6 assists and three steals.

Lin Ching-pang led CCU with 25 points and 9 rebounds.

With the title, NTNU is finally no longer second best. It finished as runner-ups six times in school history, including 2004, 2005 and 2008 when it had current SBL star players such as Tien Lei, Ho Shou-cheng and Wu Yong-jen on its roster.

Su Yi-chieh(No.4)

NTNU’s Deng An-cheng

Defending champ Fu Jen Univ. beat Hsing Wu College 80-77 in the bronze medal game. NTUA beat NTSU-Taoyuan 74-63 o win the 5th place and NKNU upset TPEC 84-67 as TPEC finished as the 8th place -- the worst placing in school history.

In the semifinal matchups, NTNU stomped Hsing Wu College 100-67. Chang Jung-hsuan led the team with 15 points while Wu Tai-hao and Cheng Jen-wei each scored 13 points. CCU used a 18-0 run late in the 4th quarter to break the game open and beat Fu Jen Univ. 75-57, reaching the title game for the first time in seven years.

Lin Ching-pang led CCU with 23 points.

Lin Ching-pang, CCU

Final UBA men placing:
1. NTNU
2. CCU
3. Fu Jen Univ.
4. Hsing Wu College
5. NTUA
6. NTSU-Taoyuan
7. NKNU
8. TPEC

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

UBA Women: CCU wins 13th UBA crown

CCU’s Huang Fan-shan (Source: UBA)

Led by Chen Yu-chun's 26 points, Chinese Culture University (CCU) beat Naitonal Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) 77-63 to win its 13th UBA women's title in school history. Not surprising if you understand that most CCU players also play for perenial WSBL power Cathay Life.

CCU defended its crown and snapped NTNU's 14-game win streak.

In the bronze medal game, National Taipei University of Education (NTEU) beat Fo Gunag University, who made its first UBA final four appearance, 80-71.

In the cross-over semifinal, CCU pounded Fo Guang Univ. 94-48 and NTNU routed NTUE 95-72.

On Tuesday, NTSU-Taichung edged Taipei Physical Education College (TPEC) to win the fifth place and Shih Hsin University finished 7th after a 74-69 win over NTSU-Taoyuan.

Final UBA women placing:
1. CCU
2. NTNU
3. NTUE
4. Fo Guang Univ.
5. NTSU-Taichung
6. TPEC
7. Shih Hsin Univ.
8. NTSU-Taoyuan

Monday, March 02, 2009

30-point turnaround helps FJU advance to final four

Lu Cheng-ju of TPEC (Source: UBA)

The defending UBA champion Fu Jen University survived a scare and advanced to the final four, turning a 24-point halftime deficit to a six-point victory. FJU pulled off the biggest comeback in UBA history with a 87-81 win over NTSU-Taoyuan.

Trailing 48-24 at halftime, the defending champ found their shooting touch in the second half. Wu Chih-wei, who scored 22, made six 3-pointers to spark a 63-point second half outburst. Lin Wei-han knocked down a go-ahead three with 42.8 seconds left on the clock to set up the unbelievable comeback. Lin had 18 points.

Wei Wei and Wu Fong-cheng each scored 23 points for NTSU-Taoyuan.

CCU beat TPEC 81-70 by a 16-3 closing run and set up a meeting with FJU in the semifinal tomorrow. TPEC, which has been a UBA powerhouse for as long as you can imagine, saw its record of making the final four for 21 consecutive year snapped. Last year, its 12 straight UBA title win and 155-game win streak were also stopped.

In the other semifinal game, Hsing Wu College is scheduled to meet National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), the hands-on favorite to win it all this year.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

2009 UBA final round results

90x0 The UBA entered the single-elimination final round which the men's and women's title will be determined among eight men's teams and eight women's teams in three days.

Fo Guang University shocked TPEC, last season's runner-up, while the defending champion Chinese Culture University routed Shih Hsin University 133-46. Both teams advanced to the final four.

March 1 Women's results:
Fo Guang Univ. (FGU) 89-83 Taipei Physical Education College (TPEC)
Chinese Culture Univ. (CCU) 133-46 Shih Hsin Univ.
National Taiwan Normal Univ. (NTNU) 77-32 National Taiwan Sports Univ. - Taoyuan Campus (NTSU-Taoyuan)
National Taipei University of Education (NTUE) 86-69 National Taiwan Sports Univ. - Taichung Campus (NTSU-Taichung)

Women's final four matchup:
FGU vs. CCU
NTNU vs. NTUE

Four men's games will be played in two days. Hsing Wu College upset 4th seed National Taiwan University of Art (NTUA) 93-82 Sunday night and advanced to the final four. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) beat National Kaohsiung Normal University (NKNU) 101-46.

Two final four seeds will be decided tomorrow, when Fu Jen University meets NTSU-Taoyuan and CCU meets TPEC.

Men's final four seeds will be:
Hsing Wu College
NTNU
Winner of FJU/NTSU-Taoyuan
Winner of CCU/TPEC

If you are familiar with Taiwanese basketball, you should have no trouble knowing that most SBL players are still in college. Therefore, they have to play for their schools too. Players such as Wu Tai-hao and Su Yi-chieh played in UBA games too.

Ho wins All-Star MVP, Allen takes home dunk champion

Taiwan Beer forward Ho Shou-cheng had 23 points and paced Red Team to a 108-98 win over White Team in the annual SBL All-Star Game Saturday night. U.S. import Byron Allen edged Doug Creighton 97-96 in the dunk competition.

09022728sbl

Allen got the perfect score of 50 on a dunk he collaborated with Taiwan Mobile teammate Wu Yong-jen, who won the three-point shootout earlier. Doug Creighton lost in the dunk final for the second consecutive year, losing last year to former U.S. star import Jon Sanders.

About 5,000 fans were in attendance of the annual festivity in Jhubei City, Hsinchu County, the first time that the league holds the All-Star Game outside of Taipei area.

Chen Shih-chieh also had 23 points for Red Team, consisted of players from Taiwan Beer, Yulon and Pure Youth. Lu Cheng-ju had 14 points and help Red Team to put the game away early, leading by more than 10 points in the second quarter.

Byron Allen, who won the dunk competition at halftime, had 21 points and 13 rebounds for White Team. Su Yi-chieh had 18 points, including three 3-pointers. Lin Yi-hui had 15 points and Lin Kwan-lun had 11. Tien Lei scored nine.

M20090301372107

In other events, the little guys beat the big men team 42-37 in the "Big vs. Small" exhibition game. Hong Chih-shan of Pure Youth hit five 3-pointers in the 12-minutes exhibition which match-ups players shorter than 180cm against players who are taller than 195cm. Yeah, 195cm or taller is considered "tall" in this country.

M20090301372102

Wu Yong-jen scored 21 points in the final round and won the 3-point shootout for the second time in his career after winning five years ago.

3-point shootout final round
Wu Yong-jen, TM 21 points
Wang Nan-kwei, KKL 16 points
Chen Ching-wen, Dacin 15 points
Chen Shun-hsiang, BOT 13 points

M20090301372112

Bank of Taiwan won an interesting event called "mixed-shooting competition", which has seven teams -- with each team consists of a coach, a younger player and a veteran -- shooting from seven spots on the floor. When a player made a shot from spot A, the team could move on to the next spot with the last spot in halfcourt.

BOT beat Dacin after an extra "penalty kick" session as Chen Kuo-wei made a halfcourt shot after four seconds while Dacin made one after nine seconds.

The All-Star Game drew the same criticism as it has been in the past years. But it was actually a dilemma. When players did play hard and made the game ugly, fans said that the All-Star Game was supposed to be a show. When these All-Stars tried to have fun on the floor -- just like they did last night when they turned the final three minutes into a dunk exhibition, fans said they didn't respect the game and the ticket buyers.

So what do the players have to do? I have no idea.

Dunk contest was pathetic as always. Except for a couple of dunks, most participants had a hard time finishing dunks or came up with a creative slam.

It's funny but I believe the event that provided the most drama was the mixed-shooting contest.

So the 2009 All-Star Saturday was in the past and we're ready to move on to the second half of the season. The league is moving the games back to Taipei area, a move they think would help media coverage and ticket sales. Let's wait and see.