All-Star Game rosters announced, Lin replaced Chen as starter

The SBL announced the complete 24-man roster for the 2009 All-Star Game Wednesday. Red team also announced that TB forward Lin Chih-chieh will replace injured Yulon forward Chen Hsin-an in its starting lineup.

The replacement meant that Taiwan Beer will have four players start for the Red Team in the annual mid-season All-Star Game, which will be played in Jhubei City, Hsinchu County on February 28.

League-leading Dacin Tigers also placed three players -- including top votegetter Tien Lei, Chang Chih-fung and import Byron Allen -- in the White Team starting lineup.

Red Team (TB, Yulon, Pure Youth)
Starters
Lin Chih-chieh, TB
Ho Shou-cheng, TB
Wu Tai-hao, TB
Yen Shin-shu, TB
Lee Hsueh-lin, Yulon

Subs
Lee Chi-yi, Yulon
Chou Shih-yuan, Yulon
Chien Chia-hung, PY
James Mao, PY
Wu Chien-lung, PY
Chen Shih-chieh, PY
Tseng Wen-ting, Yulon
Chen Hsin-an, Yulon

White Team (Dacin, KKL, TM, BOT)
Starters
Tien Lei, Dacin
Hsu Chih-chan, BOT 
Byron Allen, Dacin
Wu Yong-jen, TM
Chang Chih-feng, Dacin

Subs
Su Yi-chieh, Dacin
Lin Yi-hui, Dacin
Cheng Jen-wei, KKL
Chen Ching-hwan, KKL
Lin Kwan-lun, KKL
Yen Cheng-hung, TM
Chen Shun-hsiang, BOT

Top 10 votegetters
1. Tien Lei, Dacin 22,676
2. Wu Tai-hao, Taiwan Beer  20,668
3. Byron Allen, Dacin  19,832
4. Wu Yong-jen, TM  19,574
5. Yen Shin-shu, TB  19,183
6. Lee Hsueh-lin, Yulon  18,641
7. Chen Hsin-an, Yulon  18,473
8. Ho Shou-cheng, TB  17,942
9. Chang Chih-feng, Dacin  15,956
10. Hsu Chih-chan, BOT  14,703

(Photo: SBL)

SBL video channel at Veoh.com

Watch TB-KKL-4th-1  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

I created a SBL video channel at Veoh.com and managed to upload four video clips to the channel. It was the final quarter of the Taiwan Beer vs. KKL game last Sunday. Enjoy.

However, due to limited time I have now on the basketball stuff, there’s no guarantee when I will be available to record and upload some more. I will try to do my best.

Songshan HS leads HBL men's quarterfinal

Songshan High School, which has never won the HBL title despite coming into each season as one of the title contenders, finished the HBL men's quarterfinal round with a undefeated 7-0 record. Songshan HS also extended its winning streak this season to 13 games.

The quarterfinal round did not eliminate anyone in the eight-team field. Teams were seeded according to their placings in the single round robin competition.

Men's final eight placing:
1. Songshan HS 7-0
2. Chang-shu HS 5-2
3. Nen-jen HS 4-3
4. Nanshan HS 4-3
5. Taishan HS 4-3
6. Pingtung HS 3-4
7. Keelung Commercial and Industrial VOcational HS 1-6
8. Youth HS 0-7

Women's final eight placing:
1. Haishan HS 7-0
2. Pu Men HS 5-2
3. Tamsui Vocational HS 5-2
4. Hujiang HS 4-3
5. Yang-ming HS 3-4
6. Taipei First Girls' HS 3-4
7. Jinou HS 1-6
8. Miaoli Vocational HS 0-7

The final round will be played at National Taiwan University Arena starting March 20.

BOW: Tseng Wen-ting

(Photo: SBL)

Yulon starting center Tseng Wen-ting won the Baller of the Week award this week. Tseng obviously impressed the media with his 20-20 performance in the game vs. Pure Youth Sunday night.

Tseng, who averaged 19 points and 15 rebounds last week, received 19 points in the voting, three more than TB forward Yang Ching-min.

Yulon beat PY on Tseng's 20-20

Chen Shih-nian (Photo: SBL)

Yulon 81-71 PY
Yulon: Tseng Wen-ting 22p+22rb, Chou Shih-yuan 17p
PY: James Mao 25p+8rb, Hsu Shih-ching 18p

TM 84-66 BOT
Mario Boggan returned from suspension and played his best game of the season, chipping in 17 points and 10 rebounds. BOT dropped six straight.
TM: Liu Sheng-yao 23p+9rb, M. Boggan 17p+10rb, Hsu Wei-sheng 18p+6rb+7a
BOT: Chen Shun-hsiang 17p, Hsu Chih-chan 13p+7rb

TB 78-75 KKL
Chen Shih-nian made a pair of threes and ignited TB's winning run in the final quarter, when they outscored KKL 22-15 and erased a four-point deficit at the end of the third period. TB has won five straight and is now back to a comfortable record of 7-3.
TB: Chen Shih-nian 22p, Yang Ching-min 16+6rb
KKL: Chen Ching-hwan 20p, Cheng Jen-wei 18p+7rb

Standings:
1. Dacin 8-2
2. Yulon 7-2
3. TB 7-3
4. KKL 4-6
4. TM 4-6
6. PY 3-6
7. BOT 1-9

SBL games head back to Taipei

Local sports news agency TSNA reported that the SBL games will be heading back to Taipei City as the CTBA has reached agreement with Taipei Municipal Stadium to host the games there starting March.

It's been an open secret that the CTBA and SBL teams prefer to play in Taipei City to avoid travel and game management expenditures.

However, the TMS is a small stadium with a mere 1,900 capacity. Around 700 seats are expected to allocate to the press and seven teams, which means only 1,200 tickets will be available to the public every game.

KKL upset Yulon, Dacin on top again

Tien Lei (Source: Yahoo Taiwan Sports)

KKL 94-88 Yulon
KKL snapped Yulon's five-game winning streak with a 94-88 upset win Saturday in Hsinchu.

Sixth-ranked KKL led 88-76 with 2:30 to go before Yulon made the last rally. Yulon's consecutive threes plus three missed free-throws from KKL made the game interesting again in the final minute. However, Yulon could not pull ahead.

Lin Kwan-lun led KKL with 20 while Chen Ching-hwan had 19 points and 8 boards. Cheng Jen-wei had 15 and 9.

Yulon, which was replaced by Dacin at the top of the standing after the loss, was led by Chou Shih-yuan's 25 points. Center Tseng Wen-ting had 16 and 8.

Dacin 89-80 PY
Tien Lei had 18 points and 10 rebounds, leading Dacin to its eighth win of the season with an 89-80 win over Pure Youth Saturday.

Dacin led 49-42 at the intermission with a 11-4 closing run and added a 16-2 run in the third quarter to lead by more than 20. PY cut the deficit down to single-digit in the final period but Dacin, led by Byron Allen, quickly put the game away.

Chang Chih-feng had 21 points and 6 steals. Byron Allen, who is leading the league in rebounding, turned in 13 points and 10 rebounds. Lin Tsun-ching led Pure Youth with 19 points and Chen Shih-chieh had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists.

TB 77-72 TM
Taiwan Beer and Taiwan Mobile met again Saturday after the scuffle which resulted in a unprecedented 9-man suspension last week. TB got a revenge this time with a 77-72 win, taking advantage of the absence of suspended TM import Mario Boggan and injured Ouyang Ching-heng.

With the score tied at 69 all with less than three minutes to go, TB closed out the game with a 8-3 run. The defending champ won on consecutive nights with poise and have won four straight. Last night, TB beat BOT on Hsu Hao-cheng's game-clinching three with 0.3 seconds left.

Hsu was still hot tonight, making four of five on threes en route to a 16-point outing. Yang Ching-min led TB with 19 while Lin Chih-chieh collected 17 point, 11 rebounds and 6 assists.

Wu Yong-jen led TM with 13 points. Rookie forward Yen Cheng-hung had 12 and 5.

Hsu Hao-cheng's game winning three sinks BOT

(Hsu Hao-cheng, left, source: UDN.com)

Point guard Hsu Hao-cheng made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds to go as Taiwan Beer edged BOT 94-92 Friday night in Hsinchu.

Yang Ching-min, who had 33 points, scored in the paint with 8.6 seconds to go as TB went ahead by two. BOT took the lead again on forward Chen Shun-hsiang's 3-point basket with 6 seconds left. After the timeout, Yang passed the ball out of a double-team to Hsu Hao-cheng, who took the winning shot.

"Coach Chou (Jun-san) wanted us to take the ball to the basket and go for a foul, and it was either Lin Chih-chieh or Yang Ching-min was supposed to take the last shot. I was probably the sixth offensive option, " Hsu said jokingly in the postgame interview.

TB head coach Yen Chia-hua returned to the court after serving a two-game suspension. Speaking to the media after the game, Yen said, "I will probably lock myself up again if we lose this one." He also gave credit to his opponents, saying that BOT played a great game and it was unfortunate TB had to spoil Chou Ben-tang's best game.

Chou Ben-tang, who was BOT's starting center but lost the position since, made all seven of his shot attempts and scored 19 points.

Dacin routed KKL 83-70 in the other game.

Asian Championship berth not guaranteed for Taiwan anymore

Central News Agency reported that Taiwan will have to compete for two seeds in the East Asian qualifiers to win one of the two seeds for the Asian Championship, according to a memo CTBA received from the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC).

It means Taiwan has to meet Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan in the East Asian qualifiers and finishes in the top two in order to play in the Asian Championship in Tianjin, China.

Most Asian countries are no strangers to the qualifying games. The ABC subzones in Gulf zone, SEABA, WABA and Central Asia all hold qualifiers before major Asian basketball competitions. Traditionally, the East Asian subzone does not hold such competition. As there are only five or six members in the subzone, China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan usually win automatic seeds for major Asian competitions because most of them finished in the top six in previous games.

For the Tianjin Asian Championship, home team China and top five finishers in the FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup last year (Jordan, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Kuwait and India) will receive guaranteed seeds. The remaining 10 seeds will be decided according to the subzone qualifiers. Top two teams in each subzone qualifiers get to play in the 16-team Championship, CTBA Deputy Secretary-General Wang Chi-hsien said.

South Korea, who won bronze in the previous Asian Championship, Taiwan (No. 6) and Japan (No.7) will have to play in the qualifiers along with Hong Kong, Wang said.

Things do not look good for Taiwan because Japan will host the qualifying tournament, which is expected to be played in Nagoya, Japan in June. South Korea is obviously the title favorite which leaves the remaining seed up for grab between Taiwan and the host.

Yang Ching-min named BOW

Taiwan Beer forward Yang Ching-min won the first Baller of the Week award in his career Monday for leading TB to two victory last week. With the wins, TB shook off the slumping start and crawled back to above .500 with a 4-3 record.

Yang averaged 24.5 points and 4.5 rebounds last week and is currently the second leading scorer in the league at 22 points per game. The 190cm forward/guard said experience of last year's Jones Cup helped him mature a lot.

He received 19 points in the ballot and beat out Yulon center Tseng Wen-ting, who had 11 points.