BANGKOK - New Taipei leaned on a masterful performance from Mike Efevberha to frustrate Hi-Tech Basketball Club, 88-82, and seal their ticket to the BCL Asia-East 2025 Final 4, Tuesday night at the Nimibutr Stadium.
The 40-year-old guard dropped a tournament-best 39 points as he led their huge second-half turnaround en route to becoming the second team after fellow Chinese Taipei side Taoyuan Pauian to reach the Semi-Finals.
He was key in shifting the tide in their favor during the third quarter, nailing the tie-breaking three-pointer to give the defending P.League+ champions the lead for good, 67-64, with 1:32 remaining in the period.
And when their Basketball Thai League counterparts threatened late, he took over by scoring six of their last eight points - all of which he collected from the free throw line - to ensure that no collapse would take place.
Efevberha shot 47.8-percent from the floor, including a 6-of-12 clip from deep, and also had 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, and a block as they swept their two-game Bangkok stop by beating Hi-Tech again.
"I just had the mentality of the Mamba, man," said Efevberha. "I was gonna do whatever it took to get our team this win, whether it was scoring, playing defense, getting rebounds, I just wanted to get this win tonight."
Chris Johnson backed him up with 25 points and 13 rebounds as he was also key in that third-quarter assault, once again joining hands with 'Chef Mike' like what they did to help beat Adroit Club about 24 hours ago.
Wang Po Chih supplied 10 points, none more important than his three-point play conversion to open the final frame as it sparked the 7-0 run toward a 75-65 lead before repelling their foes down the stretch.
"It was a tale of two different halves," said Coach Ryan Marchand. "We didn't play bad in the first half, but not as together as we were in the second half. We were a lot more physical, we were a lot more aggressive."
Freddie Lish led Hi-Tech with 25 points. Mike Singletary notched a double-double of 25 points and 11 rebounds with 5 assists while Moses Morgan chipped in 10 points in the defeat - their third in four outings.
Lish and Morgan led the retaliation from a decade's worth of a deficit, with the former nailing five straight to end a 14-5 run that pulled themselves to within a point, 80-79, approaching the final two minutes.
But Efevberha was there to stop the bleeding, going a perfect 2-for-2 from the foul line to push New Taipei's lead to 82-79 with 1:23 to go as things would turn from bad to worse for Coach Pachakorn Lertlaokul & Co.
Morgan committed a costly turnover when his pass intended to Lish sailed out of bounds, and it didn't help that he got whistled for a shooting for a foul on Efevberha when the latter tried to launch one from the outside.
He resented to the call and the referees had no choice but to slap him a technical foul, giving the Kings a total of four free throws - all of which Efevberha made to widen the gap to 86-79 with 46.1 seconds left.
Nakorn Jaisanuk tried to keep their hopes up following an and-one completion but Johnson was wide open for a jam on the other end, and multiple misses by Hi-Tech from beyond the arc sealed the deal for the Kings.
"The goal is always to win every time we step onto the floor," said Marchand, glad of their Final 4 entry. "Being able to achieve that especially this being the third league that this team's playing on, that's a really big thing."
Now at 4-1, New Taipei will turn their attention to the Group Phase's fifth and final leg at the UG Arena in Ulaanbaatar, where they will look to get back at the unbeaten Broncos (3-0) on May 12, Monday.
Hi-Tech, on the other hand, hope to to arrest their two-game skid when they play the winless Adroit (0-4) tomorrow, Wednesday, May 7, at 19:00 local time, with the aim to sweep their Singaporean foes.
FIBA