ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) - Taoyuan Pauian made sure to finish their BCL Asia-East 2026 Group Phase unbeaten by pulling off an 80-79 come-from-behind victory over the Chinggis Broncos on Thursday night.
The Pilots struggled to find the mark early and found themselves down 70-54 after three, but woke up just in time with Setric Millner, Jr. and Alec Brown hitting consecutive threes to lead the comeback trail.
Will Artino would then knock down the game's biggest bucket, a hook shot all over Jordy Tshimanga for the go-ahead bucket with 1:39 left to play to cap off a massive 26-9 fourth-quarter turnaround.
The P.League + side turned to defense in the last play, preventing Ian Miller and the home team from getting any good look as time expired, leaving the MBank Arena stunned as they witnessed another collapse.
Taoyuan Pauian would erupt in celebration not long after, as they finished the preliminaries completely owning Group B with a pristine 6-0 record following the win that also proved beneficial for another team.
The squad from Chinese Taipei have helped South China Athletic - who beat the Mongolian side last Tuesday via comeback as well - qualify for the Final 6, leaving the Broncos and New Taipei fighting for their lives.
The Broncos and the Kings will duke it out in the virtual KO game tomorrow, Friday, at 19:00 local time.
"We're controlling the game well with the kind of defense we wanted to have, and once we started to break their defense, we made good shots which we talked about how we can create it," Coach Iurgi Caminos said.
"And at some point, maybe the Chinggis Broncos, after the game against [South China], they had some ghost on their mind," he added, referring to their foes' loss to the HKA1 club where they blew a 17-point lead.
Artino led Taoyuan Pauian with 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 17 rebounds, which he laced with 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks for an efficiency of 36, eventually earning Player of the Game honors.
Brown came through with a double-double of his own with 17 points and 10 rebounds, going 3-of-6 from deep as he and Millner nailed 2 triples apiece for a 12-0 run to open the fourth, thus sparking the rally.
Chen Chiang-Shuang supplied 13 points while Chen Li-Sheng added 10 points, half of which he produced in the fourth as his rim pressure caused problems to the opposing defense, thus creating opportunities.
He was in fact responsible for bringing the team closer when his tough fadeaway jumper cut the Broncos' lead to just a solitary point, 78-79, with 2:42 on the clock, before Artino delivered the go-ahead bucket.
"As somebody that's competitive, you just want to win every game," said Artino, as the Pilots completed a 2-game sweep of the team that beat them in last year's Final. "For us it's about locking in and not giving up."
Stedmon Lemon, on the other hand, led the Broncos with 22 points and 9 assists in the loss, which is their fourth straight already after winning their season opener against South China in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, China.
Lemon was actually having himself a big night, highlighted by an 8-point showing in the third quarter alone, including a two-handed jam to finish a 13-0 run toward a 16-point lead before the period ended.
It was just too unfortunate, however, that they couldn't take good care of it.
In all fairness, they tried to keep the visitors at bay with Jordy Tshimanga giving themselves the 79-73 lead with 3:55 remaining, but that proved to be their final points of the night as Taoyuan Pauian retaliated.
Miller had 12 points on 11 attempts. Azbayar Altangerel had 11 points while Ikhbayar Chuluunbaatar chipped in 10 in the collapse, which saw the team commit half of their 10 turnovers in the deciding period alone.
"Our defenders helped too much, that's why they had wide-open three-point shots ... Those shots changed the game," said Coach Ariunbold Erdene, pointing out the Pilots' blazing start in the fourth that turned it around.
FIBA