NEW TAIPEI CITY (Chinese Taipei) - New Taipei turned it up in the second frame to beat Hi-Tech Basketball, 89-80, to open their BCL Asia-East 2025 campaign on a high note Sunday at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium.
The Kings actually trailed by a strand after the game's first 10 minutes but erupted for 32 big points in the aforementioned chapter for a 54-39 lead at the half, and they'd remain in the lead the rest of the way.
Now, they've taken the early lead in Group B and will surely look to sweep their next two games - Adroit Basketball on Tuesday and then the Ulaanbaatar Xac Broncos the next night - to end their home stand triumphantly.
"It was exciting for us especially because we don't have our normal roster," said head coach Ryan Marchand. "We had to play with the young guys, get them a little bit more experience, see if they can take a step up for us."
"I think that was a big thing for us, to see what what we have today," he added.
Jason Washburn led New Taipei with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Michael Efevberha delivered 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists while Chris Johnson supplied 15 points and 7 rebounds as the trio spearheaded the pullaway.
Washburn and Johnson opened the second chapter with a triple each for the 28-23 lead before Lin Chin-Pang and Chun Nan Chen helped out to push the gap to 43-29 approaching the midway mark of the period.
Then came Efevberha into the fray, contributing to the tailend of an 8-3 spurt to build a 54-37 advantage approaching the quarter's final minutes before they all headed to the dugout up by 15 points.
The Kings would lead by as many as 21 points, 68-47, thanks to Efevberha as well late in the third.
But it wasn't all smooth-sailing for the home team.
Their Thai counterparts fought back in the closing minutes and got to single digits multiple times, with Nakorn Jaisanuk's trey pulling themselves to just eight, 88-80, with 38.9 seconds remaining.
Coach Pachakorn Lertlaokul's wards had a chance to trim the deficit further but Mike Singletary committed a crucial turnover, as his outlet pass got intercepted by Chen with 22.3 ticks, all but killing their hopes.
"We didn't know what we're gonna get into; some teams, we don't have a lot of film on them. Plus not knowing what we'd have with some of our young guys and different imports, there were a lot of unknowns," Marchand said.
"But I think we played really hard across the board. Just generally happy with the win," he added.
Singletary, who has just come back after a year-long layoff from an ankle injury, led Hi-Tech with 27 points and 11 rebounds in what was also his return to Chinese Taipei after playing for the Taipei Fubon Braves.
Jaisanuk nailed four triples for 12 points, while Ryan Watkins added 11 points and 13 rebounds in the loss, which wasted what was a solid shooting from deep by the crew as they nailed 16 threes.
Hi-Tech will turn their attention to the May 2-7 leg of the BCL Asia-East as it will be in Bangkok, Thailand.
FIBA