ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) - Taoyuan Pauian ended their Basketball Champions League Asia-East (BCL Asia-East) 2025 Group Phase run unbeaten after an 85-63 rout of Bishrelt Metal at the UG Arena, Monday night.
The Pilots seized control late in the second chapter before breaking the game wide open shortly after the break en route to a 6-0 card, finishing as Group A's top team - a spot which they owned practically the entire tilt.
Crucial was the huge win as it also finalized the Final 4 picture, with the P.League+ outfit towing Pelita Jaya Basketball on to the Semi-Finals as the latter is now assured of a no. 2 finish in their pool.
The home team, carrying a 1-3 slate entering the match, needed to win to stay alive and forge possibly a virtual knockout against their Indonesian Basketball League counterparts, who are currently toting a 3-2 card.
But that won't happen anymore following the result, thus making their meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, a non-bearing one now that PJB have become the fourth and final team to advance to the Final 4 set May 30-June 1.
There, they will be joining Taoyuan and another team from Chinese Taipei in New Taipei, as well as Mongolian club Ulaanbaatar Xac Broncos, who got their ticket earlier by beating the Kings convincingly, 94-73.
Julian Boyd led the way with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Amdy Dieng finished with his own double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds while Lin Tzu Wei supplied 13 as well alongside 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
Lin helped sustain the run sparked by Boyd to start the third canto, nailing a layup and knocking down a triple as the Pilots went on a 14-2 run - ended by a Chen Li-Sheng trey - to open a 52-32 lead with 7:55 to go.
The match would never be in question since, with the Pilots leading by as many as 28 in yet another dominant display from a team that won by an average margin of 27.6 points in their last three games, including this.
"It's definitely big to be able to make the Final 4," offered Boyd. "Regardless of the league we're in, we always try to win, we always try to be the best in it. So to be able to go undefeated here is good."
Now, Taoyuan will head back home and shift their focus again to the 2024-25 P.League+ Finals, where they will look to turn their fortunes around as they trail 2-1 to the Taipei Fubon Braves in the best-of-7 series.
Batkhuyag Azzay, on the other hand, had 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists for Bishrelt Metal, which fell to 1-4 as they competed with an all-local lineup. Munkhchudur Nasanbat was his only backup with 10 points.
FIBA