JAKARTA (Indonesia) - If there was ever a blueprint for surviving and thriving in a tough international tournament, the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots just delivered it.
Happy to be back to playing with the defense that we want.
With back-to-back wins on the road—first a double-overtime thriller in Malaysia against NS Matrix Deers, then a commanding 88-64 win in Jakarta over Pelita Jaya Basketball—the Pilots are off to a dream start in Basketball Champions League Asia-East 2025, sitting alone at the top as the only undefeated team.
But as Head Coach Iurgi Caminos was quick to emphasize: it’s not just about winning. It’s about how they won.
“This is a short competition - only six games to qualify. Winning away games is really, really important,” he said.
"And the way that we played... that’s the identity we’ve been trying to build. We shared the ball. We shared the effort."
"Happy to be back to playing with the defense that we want. That’s the defense that pulled us last year in the Finals at home and this year in the Finals of EASL - being a team that not only shared the ball but even we sharing the effort, helping each other. It’s really important to be as a team in offense and defense and it’s always the goal that we are looking for."
After a tense opener in Kuala Lumpur that required two overtimes to finish the job, the Pilots turned up the defensive intensity against Pelita Jaya. Despite facing a hostile crowd of over 2,000 fans - the biggest yet in BCL Asia-East - Taoyuan took control early and never let go.
Alec Brown, making his tournament debut, caught fire with 24 points on 5-of-7 shooting from deep, along with 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
"Obviously it feels great," he said of his debut. "As a shooter, you can't control if the balls going to go in or not. You can just go to the open spots and hope that the ball goes in, today my teammates were finding me and then the ball was going in so it felt great. Hope I can keep doing it."
Moreover, it was their effort on the defensive end that Brown was optimistic about.
“We held them to under 50 percent from two and under 20 percent from three. That’s a great defensive game,” Brown said. “But more than that, e helped each other. Shared the ball. Almost 30 assists. That’s what wins games.”
The Pilots’ team defense was sharp, limiting Pelita Jaya’s top threats and out-rebounding them with collective grit. They weathered a few second-half runs and responded with poise - particularly from Brown, whose timely threes extinguished any hope of a comeback.
With two statement wins behind them, the Pilots now prepare for a crucial three-game home stand in New Taipei City later this month.
But if the first two games are any indication, this isn’t just a team built to compete. It’s a team built to go the distance.
"We're not here just to show up - we're here to qualify. And to do that, you have to win tough games like these," said Coach Caminos.
So far, the Pilots are doing just that.
FIBA