Review: Edmonton at the Kaohsiung City Challenger
Edmonton's time in Kaohsiung was short but sweet - picking up impressive wins before being swiftly dispatched.
They were among the highest-rated teams in the Taiwan challenger tournament, a mix of top talent and Asian outfits full of promise. All were battling for the top prize and one of the spots on offer at the Nanjing Challenger in October.
Edmonton opened their tournament in Pool C against Pasig of the Philippines, where six successive points from Steve Sir gave them a five-point lead in the first quarter of regulation time.
Joshua Munzon kept up the pressure from close range and narrowed the gap for Pasig. However, Sir, who finished with twelve points, kept the advantage firmly with Edmonton. Kyle Landry put away four of their last five points to bring the game to a close with the Canadians in the win column, the final score 21-12.
They opened their second game against Indian team Panaji with a 7-0 run and continued their rampage, taking a double-digit lead after only four minutes played. Panaji displayed good long-range accuracy, seeking to keep the game alive, but Landry and Sir kept the points coming brought the game to a close after only five minutes and fifty-one seconds.
With a 21-11 defeat of Panaji, Edmonton topped their pool and set up a quarter final match up with New York City, who lost out to neighbouring NY Harlem in Pool A but earned their quarter final spot with a 21-19 win over hosts Kaohsiung.
The team obviously had a bad night, as there was a noticeable drop in form on day two. After putting the first points on the board against NYC, the Americans put together a nine-point run behind some superb long-range shooting to lead by nine with little over three minutes played.
Sir tried to reignite Edmonton but they continued to lag behind, picking up only a few points in the paint and failing to gather any momentum. Pawel Buczak had the last of his game-high ten points and New York City finished on eight of sixteen two-pointers, ending the game ahead 21-8 and calling time on Edmonton's run in Taiwan.
Steve Sir and Kyle Landry both averaged 7.0 points per game in Kaohsiung, with Sir also leading the rebounding with 4.0 boards per contest. Still, they fell far short of where they would have liked to have finished in the tournament.
New York City, meanwhile, went on to defeat Vrbas 21-20 in the semi final to set up the match up everyone wanted to see - taking on local rivals NY Harlem for all the marbles.
NY Harlem put together an early six-point run and their own Joey King proved hard to stop in the low post. They led by eight in the final stretch and New York City started to close the gap, but time was not on their side. At the final buzzer NY Harlem were ahead 16-14, and the Kaohsiung City title was theirs.
Picture: FIBA.com
