JOHOR BAHRU (Malaysia) - Taoyuan Pauian earned themselves a chance to finish their story in the BCL Asia-East by downing Dewa United Banten in the Semi-Finals, 100-86, at the Arena Larkin Indoor Stadium, Saturday.
It was a tale of two halves but the Pilots published it in their favor, putting together a strong third quarter before pulling away in the fourth toward completing the comeback from as much as 10 points down.
Alec Brown, Justin Lu, and Setric Millner, Jr. joined hands for the finishing 10-2 kick from a narrow six-point lead to send the P. League+ outfit back to the Final of the pan-regional contest for another shot at glory.
A win against the South China Athletic in tomorrow's title bout, set at 20:00 local time, shall allow the crew to atone for last year's heartbreak, in which they settled for a runner-up finish behind the Broncos.
Aside from booking a return ticket to the Last Dance, Coach Iurgi Caminos & Co. have secured a spot in the BCL Asia 2026, marking their second straight trip to the continent's most prestigious club competition.
"It means a lot," expressed the Spanish bench tactician. "It means a lot because we know that we're representing Chinese Taipei basketball. Really happy to be back there to compete with the best teams in Asia."
"But for us, the goal is not just to be back there, because last year, we were close to doing it," he added, referring to their near-perfect BCL Asia-East 2025 campaign. "But we were not able to do it in Mongolia."
Millner top-scored for Taoyuan Pauian with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Lu finished with a season-high 20 points alongside 5 rebounds and 5 assists, with Will Artino adding 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Brown still managed to chip in 10 points and 4 rebounds despite being hounded by foul trouble, overcoming as much by being part of the unit that denied their counterparts from generating a serious fightback late.
"We played team basketball, and we played aggressively," said Lu. "Even when we were down, we still showed resilience, and we trusted our teammates. That's why we were able to come back and win this."
Dewa United, on the other hand, were led by Troy Gillenwater with a game-high 33 points, 28 of which he made in the first half where they posted a 57-47 lead, giving the impression that an upset was about to take place.
But the Pilots got their teeth back on defense after the break, and the sweet-shooting forward would find himself scoring just five in a struggle that proved to be a microcosm of the cold spell they got into as a whole.
DJ Cooper had 15 points and 9 assists, the first time in this season that he finished in single digits in the said statistical department. Rio Disi and Joshua Ibarra added 12 apiece, with the latter adding 15 rebounds.
The Indonesian Basketball League squad can give the country another BCL Asia-East bronze medal should they take care of business against the Broncos in the Third-Place Game tomorrow at 17:00 local time.
"Tomorrow is gonna be our last game, so we need to be at the best we can be," offered Disi, who was named the 2026 IBL Local Most Valuable Player earlier in the day. "That's the goal."
FIBA