Mars, Taiwan Beer even the series at 1-1

Showcasing its best defense of the year, Mars limited Yulon to a miserable 20-for-73 shooting and beat Yulon, 62-56, to even the A-League Finals at 1-1 last night (May 12th). Taiwan Beer and Jutai gave us the second straight overtime game, with Taiwan Beer edging Jutai, 103-96, and tied the best-of-three series.

Mars' outstanding team defense didn't give Yulon too many open looks from tipoff. And when they did get open, Yulon just can't find the basket all night, trailing by 21 at halftime. Yulon rallied in the final quarter, when they outscored Mars 15-2, but it's too late.

Jutai-Taiwan Beer game again was decided in overtime. Lin Chi-jay scored 9 of his 32 points in the extra five minutes as Taiwan Beer won this time, following the Game 1 overtime loss. Yo Yu-lun's fastbreak layup with 3 seconds remaining in regulation tied the game at 87 all and forced overtime.

Jutai Tech's Yang Yu-ming exploded for 43 points, the A-League season high, but it's not enough for a victory.

Finals Game 2: Mars 62-56 Yulon(Half 44-23)
Mars - Yen Hsin-shu 15p+5a, yang Che-yi 15p+12rb, Lin Jia-huang 9p
Yulon - Wu Chih-wei 12p+7rb, Tsun Wen-din 12p+9rb+5s, Chen Hsin-an 7p+8rb

3rd-place Series Game 2: Taiwan Beer 103-96(OT) Jutai(Half 44-49)
TB - Lin Chi-jay 32p(8-25FG, 16-19FT)+14rb, Chen Shi-nian 24p+6a, Yo Yu-lun 15p+6a
Jutai - Yang Yu-ming 43p(15-27FG, 5-8FT), Tan Bo-chan 9p+12rb

A-League Preliminaries Final Standings

1. Yulon 14-0
2. Mars 11-3
3. Jutai 10-4
4. Taiwan Beer 6-8
5. Dacin 6-8
6. Bank of Taiwan 4-10
7. Military 3-11
8. Jin-jin Design 2-12

Chen Hsin-an: Yulon's "Mr. Clutch"

Chen Hsin-an had 12 points in the last 3:12 as Yulon overcame an 8-point deficit and edged Mars, 75-71, in Game 1 of the 2003 A-League Finals last night(May 9th). Yulon led 1-0 in the best-of-three series. In Game 1 of the 3rd-place series, Jutai beat Taiwan Beer, 98-86, in overtime.

Always surrounded by at least three Mars defenders, Chen Hsin-an was quiet in the first three quarters. But he once again came thru in crunch time. With 3 1/2 minutes to go, Yulon was down, 55-63. Chen finally broke free from Mars' defense and made three straight baskets -- including two three-pointers -- while added two free-throws.

Yulon, which hadn't got the lead since tipoff, rallied past Mars with the deciding 14-2 run.

Chen Hsin-an had 23 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Tsun Wen-din pulled down 11 boards and added 14 points. Chen Chih-chun also had 14 points for Yulon. Lin Jia-huang led Mars with 18 points. Lee Chi-yi had 15 and 14.

In the earlier matchup, Lo Jen-kun tied the score off an offensive rebound with 4.7 seconds remaining as Taiwan Beer extendeded the game into overtime, 82-82, with Jutai. But Jutai knocked down Taiwan Beer in the extra session with an unanswered 14-0 run and got away with the 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

With 21 seconds remaining when Jutai lead 82-80, Yang Yu-ming, who had 21 points in the game, missed both of his free-throws and the opportunity to go ahead with a four-point lead.

Taiwan Beer's Lin Chih-jay failed to made the first free-throw with 4.7 seconds to go and intentionally missed the second try. Lo Jen-qun came away with the offensive board and put in the tying basket.

But Taiwan Beer was out of sync after both of its point guards, Chen Shih-nian and Yo Yu-lun, fouled out. Jutai made this game looked easy after scoring 14 straight points.

Jutai's Hu Yu-wei had a breakout performance with 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting. Wu Yang-huei led TB with 25 points and 8 rebounds.

Finals Game 1
Yulon 75-71 Mars(halftime 28-39)
Yulon - Chen Hsin-an 23p+9rb, Tsun Wen-din 14p+14rb, Chen Chih-chun 14p ; Mars - Lin Jia-huang 18p, Lee Chi-yi 15p+14rb, Lai Kuo-hong 10p, Yang Che-yi 10p

3rd-place series Game 1
Jutai 98-86(OT) Taiwan Beer(halftime 43-43)
Jutai - Hu Yu-wei 23p, Yang Yu-ming 21+8rb, Jong Wei-kuo 16p+5a, Ha Xiao-yuan 11p+13rb ; TB - Wu Yang-huei 25p+8rb, Lin Chi-jay 19p+9rb, Chang Hsien-ming 13p, Wu Chih-yuan 10p+10rb

Yulon and Mars will battle in A-League Finals

With the second leg still one week to go, Yulon and Mars have locked up their seeds in the Finals. Yulon edged Jutai, 80-77, on May 4th to stay perfect in 13 games. Mars defeated Jutai the night before, 80-63. Jutai, who suffered consecutive losses in two nights, will likely grabbs the third place.

Tsun Wen-din had 22 points and 18 rebounds in the Yulon victory. Chen Hsin-an had 16 points, including a highlight-reel dunk, and 5 assists. O-Yang Jin-hen led Jutai with 27 points, Yang Yu-ming had 20.

Last night Yang Che-yi had 22 points in the Mars' 80-63 victory over Jutai. Dacin limited Bank of Taiwan to 8 points, all on free-throws, in the last five minutes to a 76-66 come-from-behind win. Dacin will battle the fourth place with Taiwan Beer.

Yulon, Mars, Jutai top standings

Yulon beat Taiwan Beer, 78-60, last night(May 2nd) to stay undefeated in the A-League regular season and won its 11th straight. Yulon was 7-0 in the first leg and has won all four games in the second.

Mars(10-1) and Jutai(8-2) are not far behind. In fact, they are the only three teams with winning record. Among the other teams, Taiwan Beer(4-7), Dacin(3-7) and Bank of Taiwan(3-7) are fighting for the fourth place and the last semifinal seed.

Military beat Jin-jin Design, 95-92, in the other matchup of the night.

On May 1st, Yang Yu-ming poured in 34 points as Jutai beat Dacin, 95-82. Yang was 13-for-24 in the game. Dacin was led by Wu Dai-hao’s 25 points and 13 rebounds.

Mars edged Bank of Taiwan, 87-81, in its 9th consecutive victory. Lin Jia-huang led Mars with 19. Lee Chi-yi had 17 points and 9 boards, while Yen Shin-shu had 16 and 9. Yang Chin-ming led BOT with 20 points. Ho Sho-jen had 19.

World University Games draw announced

The 22th World University Games team draw was announced on April 29th. Taiwan men's team, which is making its first appearance ever, is bracketed with Yugoslavia,, Mexico and Greece in Group B. Taiwan women's team is in the same group with host team Korea, Canada, South Africa and Ireland.

The 22th World University Games will be held in Daegu, South Korea from Aug.20-31.

**Men's Draw
Group A: Korea, Russia, Estonia, South Africa
Group B: Yugoslavia, Mexico, Greece, Taiwan
Group C: China, Spain, Turkey, Kazakhstan
Group D: Germany, Czech Republic, Australia
Group E: Canada, Bulgaria, Hong Kong
Group F: Sweden, Japan, Nigeria, Ukraine

**Women's Draw
Group A: Korea, Canada, Taiwan, South Africa, Ireland
Group B: USA, Italy, Hungary, Australia, Thailand
Group C: China, Yugoslavia, Japan, Finland, Slovakia
Group D: Czech Republic, Russia, Lithuania, Mexico

For more info please log onto the official web site

Kuo-tai Life wins 12th straight A-League women's title

No surprise here. Kuo-tai Life beat Yadong 2-0 in the best-of-three final series to win its 12th straight A-League women's title. Chunghwa Telecom came back from a 0-1 deficit and defeated Taiwan Power 2-1 in the third-place series.

Yadong, definitely this year's Cinderella team, goes to the finals for the first time in seven years. The second place finish is also its best in years.

■Final A-League women's results:
**Final Series: Kuo-tai 2-0 Yadong
Game 1: Kuo-tai 89-70 Yadong
Game 2: Kuo-tai 80-61 Yadong

**Third-place Series: Chunghwa Telecom 2-1 Taiwan Power
Game 1: Taiwan Power 63-62 Chunghwa Telecom
Game 2: Chunghwa Telecom 89-83 Taiwan Power
Game 3: Chunghwa Telecom 74-53 Taiwan Power

**Semifinals
No.1 Kuo-tai 2-0 No.4 Chunghwa Telecom (100-89, 88-70)
No.2 Yadong 2-1 No.3 Taiwan Power (75-65, 53-57, 79-68)

**Preliminaries
1. Kuo-tai Life 8-0
2. Yadong 4-4
3. Taiwan Power 3-5
4. Chunghwa Telecom 3-5
5. Tai-yuan Textile 2-6

Lee Chin-chi, Deng Bi-jen named NT head coaches

CTBA names Military coach Lee Chin-chi as new men's NT head coach, hoping Lee will lead Taiwan NT to a better result in September's Asian Championship. Yadong head coach Deng Bi-jen also is named as the head coach of women's NT, which will be going to Sendai, Japan in June for Asian Women's Championship.

Lee Chin-shi, 53, has coached Yulon and Military in amateur ranks and Luckipar Panthers in professional ball(CBA). Lee compiled a 69-81 record in the CBA. He also led Taiwan NT to the 4th place finish in 1991 Asian Championship. After 12 years, he is back with the NT again.

Deng Bi-jen, also a former national team player, led Yadong to runner-up in women's A-League which just finished on April 27th.

Yulon finishes first leg undefeated

Perennial power Yulon proves once again nobody can beat them. Yulon finishes the first leg of the 2003 A-League regular season with a perfect 7-0 record. With the help from NT point guard Yen Hsin-shu, who came back from a knee surgery, BCC Mars is right behind with 6-1. Jutai Tech is third at 5-2.

President Cup runner-up Dacin Construction surprisingly dropped to 2-5 due to the absence of star forward Tien Lei, who injured his shooting hand in a motorcycle accident and is expected to be out of the entire season.

The second leg starts on April 27th.

First leg standings:
1. Yulon 7-0 ; 2. Mars 6-1 ; 3. Jutai 5-2 ; 4. Taiwan Beer 4-3 ; 5. Dacin 2-5 ; 6. Bank of Taiwan 2-5 ; 7. Military 1-6 ; 8. Jin-jin Design 1-6

High school phenom Wu Dai-hao leads Dacin past BOT

High school phenom Wu Dai-hao had 24 points and 16 rebounds as Dacin beat Bank of Taiwan, 103-83, in tonight’s only Div-I game. Dacin is up to 2-3 while BOT dropped to 1-4, tied with Jin-jin Design in the last place.

With Wu’s presence in the middle, Dacin’s shooters were all over the place from the first minute, opening up the game for the easy victory. Wu made 9-of-12 shots and was 6-for-8 on the charity stripe. Chang Chih-fung and Cheng Chan-jun made four three-point baskets each and scored 16 and 15 points, respectively. PG Huang Chih-chun also had 15.

BOT was led by Ho Sho-jen’s 26 points and 9 boards. PG Wu Yong-jen had 18.