Alexus Foyle’s uncanny style of play, which rallied the Taiwan Mobile Leopards to three wins over worthy opponents last week, earned him the Super Basketball League’s (SBL) Player of the Week honor for this week.
The St Vincent native who joined the team at the start of last week made his presence felt right away by averaging nearly 27 points and 10 rebounds per game over a three-game stretch to lead the previously-slumping Leopards to three straight victories over the Yulon Luxgens, Taiwan Beer and Pure Youth Construction.
“It’s an honor to receive the award, it should go to the entire team for making it possible for me,” Foyle said after learning of his selection for the weekly honor.
His outstanding effort beat out Kinmen Liquor great Cheng Ren-wei by three points in a narrow 46-43 win in weekly voting by members of the Basketball Writers’ Association, as they were impressed by the immediate impact that Foyle was able to bring to his team.
Foyle and the rest of the Leopards pack will enjoy a deserved break over the Lunar New Year’s holiday as he looks to expand his newfound life in Taiwan beyond the basketball court and daily practice.
“Taiwan is an island much like St Vincent, so I am sure the seafood is great here,” Foyle said.
He will have a chance to sample the fresh local delicacies when he spends his first New Year’s holiday that does not involve a New Year’s countdown or the wild celebrations most Westerners are accustomed to.
The SBL has entered a three-week break, with play scheduled to resume on Feb. 26, when Bank of Taiwan take on Taiwan Beer at the Hsinchu Municipal Gymnasium, followed by a showdown between Yulon Luxgens and Dacin Tigers.
■WSBL
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Cathay Life women’s basketball team, who have won 17 straight women’s titles in the league, announced on Tuesday that they were pulling out this season over a player registration controversy.
The team decided to miss this season of the Women’s Super Basketball League (WSBL) over what it claims is a violation by Chunghwa Telecom when signing Chiang Feng-chun, a former Cathay Life forward who came out of retirement and signed with their rivals, the team said in a press release.
The WSBL consists of five teams and is Taiwan’s top women’s basketball league. The season is scheduled to begin next month.
Chiang, a national team regular, returned to basketball a year after a surprising retirement in February last year at the age of 28. Her unexpected return sparked controversy and highlighted an “unwritten rule” that Taiwanese women players stay with a single team throughout their careers or face being boycotted by the other teams if they try to switch.
The teams invest millions of dollars in every player and it is unfair for teams to lose players to other teams, Cathay Life assistant coach Chien Wei-chuan said.
The Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA), basketball’s governing body, changed the rule in 2008 when lawyers said it violated the Constitution, which rules that people’s right to work should be protected.
All players — men and women — are now free agents and free to sign with any team after their contracts expire or they receive letters of clearance.
Cathay Life still opposed the transfer of Chiang, however, who retired after a falling out with the team’s head coach, Hung Ling-yao.
Chiang was quoted by the media as saying she decided to leave Cathay Life because Hung kept refusing to allow her to play US college basketball or in other leagues overseas.
The case was submitted to the CTBA Disciplinary Committee for further review.
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