DUBAI (United Arab Emirates) - Taoyuan Pauian rallied in the absence of Lu Chun-Hsiang and dismantled Changwon LG, 89-73, in the BCL Asia 2025, Saturday night at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall.
The Pilots lost their team captain to a right ankle injury barely two minutes in and thus needed some time to recalibrate their focus, but there was no stopping the crew once they did as much.
Just a week removed from a silver finish in the BCL Asia-East 2025, the Chinese Taipei side got into their flow in the second chapter before cruising to the 16-point win that could boost their Quarter-Final bid.
"For the team, it was tough mentally. That's why, maybe, in the first quarter we didn't have good rhythm," offered head coach Iurgi Caminos. "But after this we slowly started to understand better how to get our rhythm."
Treveon Graham led the BCL Asia-East 2025 runners-up with 23 points, alongside 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
Alec Brown notched a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Julian Boyd supplied 12 points and 5 rebounds as the troika joined forces to lead the aforementioned uprising toward the rout.
Taoyuan Pauian were trailing by a field goal early in the second until Graham tied the game up at 28-all following a perfect trip to the foul line. Brown then came in with back-to-back hits to give them the lead for good.
The two continued to punish the opposition before Boyd came in to join, contributing to the tailend of what would be an 11-2 run toward a 45-34 lead at the break, setting the tone on the blowout victory.
Now the Pilots will turn their attention to Monday's game as they will be taking on no less than the defending BCL Asia champions in Al Riyadi, who are missing Amir Saoud. Tipoff time is set at 21:00 local time.
"It's a good challenge. I'm happy we're seeing a good team like that here in the Group Phase," said Brown. "I think that's gonna prepare us for the next part of this tournament. Excited to see how we play."
Pauly Paulicap, meanwhile, had 15 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Sakers in the loss.
Kevin Allen, who played for Hi-Tech in the BCL Asia Qualifiers 2024, had 14 points. Yu Kisang made 12 points, while both Jung Indok and Choi Hyungchan added 11 points apiece for the Korean side.
FIBA