Saturday, March 03, 2012

Eight teams go for high school men's, women's titles

HBL_2012

Nan-shan HS is ready to avenge for its championship game loss last year and go for its sixth title in school history in the 2012 HBL men's Final Four, which will be played today and tomorrow at the National Taiwan University Gymnasium.

A total of eight men's and women's teams will meet in the semifinal today.

Song-shan HS, which completed an unprecedented three-peat last season, was unable to reach quarterfinal this season. Hujiang HS, last season's women's titlist, finished fifth place in the quarterfinal round and failed to reach the final four.

March 3 schedule
13:00 [Men's] (1) Nan-shan HS vs. (4) Keelung Commercial and Industrial Vocational HS
15:00 [Women's] (1) Pu Men HS vs. (4) Chin-ping HS
17:00 [Men's] (2) Nen-jen HS vs. (3) Chiang-shu HS
19:00 [Women's] (2) Tamsui HS vs. (3) Taipei First Girls' HS

March 4 schedule
12:00 Women's third-place game
14:00 Men's third-place game
16:00 Women's Championship Game
18:00 Men's Championship Game

1329184339-421902_mChiang-shu and Keelung both began the season in the qualification round and made the final four as cinderellas.

Having defeated Keelung (10-5) twice this year, Nan-shan, which is 14-1 this season, is the favorite to win the semifinal matchup. But it cannot underestimate Keelung, which boasts an averaged height of 191cm among its five starters.

Nen-jen, which has never won a title despite making its fourth straight final four appearance, has beaten Chiang-shu (10-5) three straight times this year. Nen-jen is 14-1 for the season with the lone loss coming from Nan-shan.

Chiang-shu is led by the HBL leading scorer Yu Huan-ya, who averaged 18.1 points per game and was 42 of 118 from the three-point land for the season.

Women's top seed Pu Men HS is looking for its first title since 2009 and the second title in school history.

Tamsui HS, the most successful program in Taiwan's high school basketball, is eyeing its eighth title. And it will count on Lin Yu-ting, one of the best player in the league, to achieve that feat.

The all-around Lin had 32 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds in Tamsui's 106-95 overtime win over Taipei First Girls' HS in the quarterfinal round.

Following are the results of the men's and women's quarterfinals with the top four teams advancing to the men's and women's final four.

Men's quarterfinal standings:
1. Nan-shan HS 6-1
2. Nen-jen HS 6-1
3. Chiang-shu HS 5-2
4. Keelung Commercial and Industrial Vocational HS 4-3
5. Hsin-jung HS 3-4
6. Youth HS 2-5
7. Yilan HS 1-6
8. Tai-shan HS 1-6


Women's quarterfinal standings:
1. Pumen HS 7-0
2. Tamsui HS 6-1
3. Taipei First Girls' HS 5-2
4. Chih-ping HS 3-4
5. Hu-jiang HS 2-5
6. Yung-jen HS 2-5
7. Jin-ou HS 2-5
8. Yang-ming HS 1-6

(Photos: HBL)