Pure Youth added two imports to play in APB

Pure Youth Construction has hired two imports to play in the Asian Professional Basketball tournament, a brainchild of former FIBA president Carl Men Ky Ching which will be played in Haining, Zhejiang, China from Sept. 14 – 19.

Pure Youth has signed 6-6 Tyler Amaya and 6-9 Zack Atkinson to two weeks for the six-team tournament which will allow two imports per team, Liberty Times and United Daily News reported.

The participating teams include:
1. Pure Youth Construction, Taiwan: Ranked 3rd in the 7-team SBL
2. Seoul Samsung Thunders, South Korea: Ranked 6th in the 10-team KBL
3. Hamamatsu Phoenix, Japan: Reigning bj-league champion
4. Zhejiang Guangsha Lions, China: Ranked 3rd in the 17-team CBA
5. Iran All-Stars
6. Philippines All-Stars
(I couldn’t find the details of the Iranian and the Philippine teams.)

PY head coach Hsu Chin-tse was quoted as saying that 6-6 U.S. forward Jon Sanders, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder last season, will not be returning to Taiwanese basketball. Hsu said he will evaluate Atkinson and Amaya in the APB tourney before deciding on whether to keep them.

However, only one import is allow on each SBL team and Atkinson is ineligible to play in the league because his height exceeds the SBL’s 200cm height limit on imports.

Tyler Amaya

Born: Aug. 9, 1982
Height: 6-6
College: Western Washington
Mount Vernon HS, Mount Vernon (Wa.)

2002-2003: Gonzaga (NCAA): 25 games: 0.7ppg, 0.8rpg, FGP: 26.3%, 3PT: 15.4%, FT: 6-6
2003-2004: Dixie JC (NJCAA): 10.0ppg, 7.0rpg
2004-2005: Western Washington (NCAA2): 29 games: 12.0ppg, 7.9rpg, 3.1apg, 1.0spg, 1.0bpg, FGP: 46.7%, 3PT: 28.6%, FT: 68.3%
2005-2006: Western Washington (NCAA2): 30 games: 14.8ppg, 8.0rpg, 3.5apg, FGP: 50.0%, 3PT: 42.6%, FT: 77.6%
Pro career: Played in IBL, Germany, China and New Zealand from 2006-2010

Zack Atkinson

Height: 6-9′
College: Cal-Irvine (USA)

Bishopville, S.C./Feather River College
2008-2009: Cal-Irvine (NCAA, starting five): 29 games: 2.5ppg, 2.8rpg
2009-2010: Cal-Irvine (NCAA, starting five): 30 games: 5.6ppg, 3.6rpg, 1.3bpg, FGP: 52.5%, FT: 59.5%

(Photos: Liberty Times, UCI website, IBL website)

Perth Wildcats claims Asia Professional Basketball crown

Perth Wildcats beat LG Sakers 86-64 Saturday to win the inaugural Asia Professional Basketball tournament, which means the Wildcats can say they are the best pro club in Asia — period. The Wildcats won all 8 games they’ve played.

In the third-place game, Taiwan NT broke the game open in the second half and beat Niigata Albirex 75-58. The game was tied 32-32 at halftime but the host ended the third quarter with a 11-2 run and cruised in the final period.

Tien Lei had 18 points and 12 rebounds and Tsun Wen-din had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Yang Che-yi and Lee Hsueh-lin each had 10 points.

Daiki Terashita led Niigata with 17 points, followed by Makoto Hasegawa’s 12. Jonathan Sanders had 11 points and 12 boards.

Taiwan NT will train in the U.S. from Aug. 26 – Sep. 23 before coming back and meet Dongbu Promy, which ranked 3rd in the KBL regular season last season, in a three-game warmup series on Sep. 27, 28 and Oct. 1.

APB 2nd Round – Taiwan beat Niigata 80-70

Without Chen Hsin-an and Chou Shih-yuan, Taiwan NT managed to beat Niigata Albirex 80-70 in the final second round game of the APB tournament with the play of Tsun Wen-din and Lee Hsueh-lin, who combined for 39 points.

Tsun had 21 points. Lee had 18 points and Tien Lei had 14. Taiwan head coach Lee Yun-kwang did not play Chen Hsin-an and Chou Shih-yuan, who missed the game for funeral of his grandfather, since the game was virtually meaningless.

Taiwan will meet Niigata again tomorrow in the third-place game while Perth Wildcats comes up against LG Sakers in the championship game.

APB 2nd Round – Wildcats, Sakers will meet in championship

Perth Wildcats stayed undefeated through six games after a 84-57 win over Niigata and LG Sakers beat Taiwan NT 91-78 Thursday as both teams clinched APB championship berths.

In the four-team second round, the Wildcats and the Sakers are both 2-0 with one game left. Taiwan NT and the Albirex are both 0-2 and will meet for the third-place. The results make tomorrow’s last second round games meaningless.

Led by Pervis Pasco’s 18 points and 19 rebounds, LG pounded the home team without mercy, making 16 3-pointers in the game. LG sank 6 threes in a 34-19 third quarter that pulled the score away after a 43-38 first half.

Taiwan also made 14 3-pointers but was outrebounded 34-18. Tsun Wen-din scored a team-high 16 points, followed by Chen Hsin-an’s 15. Chen Shih-nian had 12 while Lin Chi-jay had 10.

Cho Sang-hyun led LG with 21 points, including six 3-pointers. Hyun Joo-yup had 12.

Second Round standings:
Perth Wildcats 2-0
LG Sakers 2-0
Taiwan NT 0-2
Niigata 0-2

APB 2nd Round – Wildcats beat Taiwan again

Perth Wildacts beat Taiwan NT on consecutive nights in a 99-93 victory Wednesday, following a 100-74 blowout Tuesday, to open its second round campaign in the Asia Professional Basketball tournament. The Wildcats is riding on a five-game winning streak and looks like the favorite to win it all.

Following the single round-robin preliminaries, Taiwan NT, Perth Wildcats, LG Sakers and Niigata Albirex will play in yet another single round-robin second round before the final round, where the top two teams meet for gold and the other two play for the third-place Saturday.

Ben Hunt scored six of his team-high 19 points in the last two minutes to keep the score out of reach. Perth led from start to finish and as many as 24 points in the third quarter before Taiwan NT made the last push.

With a 21-7 run in the third and another 8-0 run in the fourth quarter, the home team cut the deficit to three, 89-86, with 2:35 to go. But Hunter took over from there and increased the lead to eight with 28.2 seconds remaining.

Tony Ronaldson scored 14 points for the winner. Adam Caporn had 12.

Lin Chi-jay scored 19 to lead the Taiwanese, followed by Chen Hisn-an’s 18. Chou Shih-yuan came off the bench to score 16, including four 3-pointers, in 22 minutes. Tsun Wen-din had 15 points and 9 assists. Lee Chi-yi had 11 points.

In the second game of the night, LG routed Niigata 102-73 to avenge the 97-84 loss last night to the Albirex in its last preliminary game. LG opened the game with a 20-1 run and led by as many as 31 points.

Second round standings:
Perth Wildcats 1-0
Niigata Albirex 1-0
Taiwan NT 0-1
LG Sakers 0-1

APB – Perth Wildcats finished atop first round

Perth Wildcats routed Taiwan NT 100-74 Tuesday night and finished with a perfect 4-0 record after the first round in the APB tournament, which will enter another single round robin second round.

LG Sakers of Korea, Niigata Albirex and Taiwan NT all finished 2-2 but were ranked in a No.2 – 4 order after the point margin comparison. San Miguel Beermen of PBA was eliminated after dropping all four games.

Paul Rogers made 11 of 12 shots en route to a 24-point, 7-rebound night to lead a balanced attack as the Wildcats overwhelmed the host in the last 30 minutes. Lin Chi-jay led Taiwan with 12 points. Yue Yin-li and Tsun Wen-din each scored 11 points while Lee Hsueh-lin had 10.

Niigata beat San Miguel 97-84 in the final preliminary game to win its second straight game after dropping the first two. The Japanese team was able to hold off San Miguel’s rally mostly because of its 12-for-27 three-point shooting.

Jonathan Sanders had 22 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists for Niigata, which also had 14 points from veteran Makoto Hasegawa.

Dorian Pena had 22 points for the Beermen, whose acting head coach Chot Reyes (head coach of the national team) opted to rest Danny Siegle and Donald Hontiveros in the game because both of them and Pena will join the national team for a tournament in Palau starting Aug. 18.

The tournament enters the second round phase Wednesday. Top two teams of the second round will play for gold while the other two will meet for the third-place on the final day, Aug. 19.

Aug. 13 results:
Niigata 84-81 LG
Perth 89-70 San Miguel

APB Day 3 – Taiwan NT KO San Miguel, 105-76

Taiwan NT turned in its best performance in the APB tournament Sunday night, knocking out San Miguel 105-76 in a game that was meaningful for 10 minutes.

Inspired by five 3-pointers from Tien Lei and Chen Hsin-an, Taiwan NT opened the game with a 18-1 run over the Beermen, who couldn’t find the basket and seemed uninterested all game long. The game was never close as the host led by as many as 37 points.

At one point San Miguel head coach Chot Reyes told his players they were embarrassing themsleves. But his words obviously neither pick up the players’ spirit nor stop the last 30 minutes of the game from turning into garbage times.

All 11 players on Taiwan NT scored while five hit double figures. Chen Hsin-an led with 24 points, followed by Tien Lei’s 16 and Lin Chi-jay’s 14. Lee Chi-yi and Chou Shih-yuan had 13 points each.

Center Tsun Wen-din, who returned to Taiwan Sunday morning from Pete Newell Big Man Camp in Las Vegas, didn’t play until the third quarter and had 5 points and 3 boards in 10 minutes.

In the ohter game, Perth Wildcats defeated LG Sakers 82-68 to remain undefeated at 2-0. LG is now 2-1 and tied with Taiwan NT.

Standings:
Perth Wildcats 2-0
Taiwan NT 2-1
LG Sakers 2-1
San Miguel 0-2
Niigata Albirex 0-2

APB Day 2 – Taiwan edged Niigata in overtime, 101-98

Led by Lin Chi-jay, who had 37 points, 10 rebounds and 4 steals, Taiwan NT edged Niigata Albirex 101-98 in overtime for its first win Saturday in the inaugural Asian Professional Basketball (APB) tournament.

Taiwan NT escaped with the fortunate win after making 3 of 6 foul shots in the last minute in overtime as Albirex came up with two airballs.

Tien Lei had 21 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals before fouling out. Lee Chi-yi had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks while Lee Hsueh-lin had 12 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

Niigata stayed with the home team because Taiwan NT kept missing free throws. The home team made only 8 of 21 free throws in the second half, including 5 of 12 in overtime.

Kimitake Sato, who had a team-high 24 points in the game, tied the game with a 3-pointer with 2:27 left in overtime, but that was the last basket for Niigata, which was hurt with more than 20 turnovers.

Sato scored five unanswered points in the last minute of the regulation to put Albirex on top, 90-87. Lin Chi-jay tied the game with a 3-poineter with 7.6 seconds to go before Niigata head coach Masaya Hirose called timeout for the last shot.

Veteran Makoto Hasegawa went to the basket but was stripped of the ball by Yang Che-yi, who was fouled hard and taken off the court due to injury. Lin Chi-jay, however, missed two potential game-winning free-throws with 0.9 seconds to go.

LG Sakers of South Korea defeated San Miguel Beermen, 76-65, to top the standing with two straight wins.

Preliminary Standings:
LG Sakers 2-0
Perth Wildcats 1-0
Taiwan NT 1-1
San Miguel 0-1
Niigata 0-2