TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — National Chengchi University defeated Chien Hsin University of Science and Technology 88-70 in Sunday's men's basketball championship, earning its fifth consecutive championship.
NCCU has dominated the University Basketball Association (UBA) men's competition, winning 50 consecutive games over three seasons. In three straight finals appearances at Taipei Arena, NCCU defeated CHUST, per CNA.
NCCU coach Ray Chen (陳子威) singled out Wang Wei-chia (王暐嘉), who defended CHUST’s main scorer Liu Cheng-hsun (劉丞勳), as the team's hidden hero. Limiting Liu’s offensive threat allowed NCCU to a 49-33 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, CHUST turned to Liao Ben-chian (廖本謙) to close the gap, though he later exited the game due to cramping. CHUST’s Hsu Hong-wei (徐宏瑋) also fouled out, making the comeback more difficult.
In the final quarter, NCCU widened their lead, putting the game out of reach with Sung Hsin-hao (宋昕澔) scoring a team-high 19 points.
In a media session after the game, NCCU coach Chen said, "I almost cried" due to the outstanding performance of freshman Wang Wei-chia when just before the championship game he was given the difficult task of guarding CHUST’s top scorer, Liu Cheng-hsun.
Chen praised the team for inheriting the winning culture of past teams and continuing the team’s high-quality play.
When discussing next year's goals, Chen said he was looking forward to winning another championship and hoped to participate in more international tournaments. "I hope there is a chance to raise the level of competition in the UBA, which will be a great help to Taiwan basketball."
