Overcoming a half-time deficit, Taiwan rallied past Kazakhstan 73-67 to close out the FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup with a face-saving victory in Beirut on Sunday evening.
The win yielded a 7th-place finish for Taiwan but the disappointing overall showing in Beirut further exposed their weakness in the middle with the only reliable big man being Tseng Wen-ding, a good 5cm shorter than his usual opponents.
The size disparity for Taiwan also revealed itself in the rebounding arena over the seven-game span as opponents out-muscled and outhustled them by a 331-215 margin in total boards with 149 of the 331 coming off the offensive glass.
Sunday night’s contest saw Kazakhstan dominate Taiwan early, leading by as many as a dozen with the solid play of Dmitriy Gavrilov inside the paint. The 202cm forward racked up a game-high 18 points in a losing effort for his country.
As for Taiwan, a dismal outing in the game’s first 15 minutes of play finally came to an end as it rallied for 14-9 run late in the first half to cut the deficit to six at the half.
An 11-3 run by Taiwan early in the third gave them their first lead of the game at 44-42 before Kazakhstan came back to regain a 58-57 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
However, the sweet taste of victory ultimately belonged to Taiwan with the deadly three-point shooting of guard Hong Chih-shang spurring a 17-9 run in the final five minutes of the contest to eke out the win.
Meanwhile, hosts Lebanon beat Japan 97-59 in the title game on Sunday while Qatar defeated the Philippines in 79-75 to finish third.
Jordan proved too strong for Iran in the battle for fifth with a 68-57 victory, while Iraq edged past Syria by an 84-82 margin to earn a ninth-place finish.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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