New Taipei's Nanshan High School wins HBL tournament

新北南山高中奪得HBL錦標賽冠軍

Nanshan climbs back after large 4th quarter deficit


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Nanshan Senior High School finally rid itself of its four-year runner-up curse, defeating long-time adversary Kuang-fu Senior High School in the finals of the High School Basketball League (HBL) championship at Taipei Arena on Sunday (March 17).

Nanshan overcame a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter through the strong play of 10th-grade standout, Huang Han-sheng (黃瀚陞). Huang sparked the comeback with a pair of baskets that powered his team to an eventual 87:85 victory, per UDN.

With the win, Nanshan Senior High School earned its eighth HBL championship and the first in eight years. Nanshan advanced from the wild card round, reaching the final four for the 11th consecutive year.

The road to the finals pitted Nanshan against Taipei’s top-rated Songshan High School. In the finals, it faced its long-term nemesis, Hsinchu’s Kuang-fu Senior High School, who had beaten Nanshan in the championship for the past two years.

The game was close early on with the lead see-sawing in the first quarter. By the second quarter, Nanshan guard Lin En-yu (林恩宇) got his fourth foul, forcing the team to rely on the outside shooting of Huang and Liu Genghao (劉耕灝). A buzzer-beater before the half put Nanshan ahead 45:44.

The game continued to be close in the third quarter, but both sides then experienced foul trouble, leading to limited time for some starters. In the fourth, Kuang-fu scored three consecutive baskets to extend their lead to 76:66.

The lead was whittled away by Huang who hit two key jump shots to keep his team alive. An opportune fast break bucket also chopped the lead to 81:82.

Nanshan‘s Liu went to the line and made one of two free throws with 18.7 seconds left in the game putting his team ahead. But Kuang-fu still had a final chance to tie the game, but came up short with a missed basket and a failed put-back resulting in the final score of 87:85.

The loss foiled Kuang-fu’s quest for a threepeat, with the last team to win three consecutive championships being Taipei Songshan High School (2008- 2010).