THE NUMBERS

NCCU 102, Waseda 91 (37-29, 23-23, 15-19, 27-20).

NCCU had a record first, scoring 37 points and breaking the AUBL record for most points in a single quarter. They shot 50.6% overall, scored 66 points in the paint to Waseda's 38, and grabbed 52 rebounds to Waseda's 33. Twenty-one of the 52 were offensive, meaning NCCU pulled down 53.8% of their own missed shots, the highest in AUBL history.

NCCU's bench scored 30 points to Waseda's 6. Hsieh Yun Da scored a career-high 26 on 8-of-17 shooting with 9 of 11 from the line. Boubacar Mboup had 22 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists on 11-of-15 - his 6th career double double.

Waseda took 43 of their 81 shots from 3-point range and made 13 (30.2%), with Kenichi Miura 4 of 17 and Shin Matsumoto 5 of 15. Eiji Shimoyama had 12 points and 12 assists, tying the AUBL single-game assist record for the second time this tournament and recording his 4th double double of the tournament.

NCCU (政治大學)

• Points: 26 — Hsieh Yun Da (謝昀達) Player of the Game · 22 — Boubacar Mboup (波波卡) · 16 — Hsu Te Chi (徐得祈)
• Rebounds: 15 — Boubacar Mboup (波波卡), 22-15 double-double · 10 — Wang Wei Jia (王暐嘉)
• Assists: 7 — Boubacar Mboup (波波卡) and Hsu Te Chi (徐得祈)

Waseda University (早稲田大学)

• Points: 27 — Kenichi Miura (三浦　健一) · 21 — Shin Matsumoto (松本　秦) · 14 — Kenshin Kido (城戸　賢心)
• Rebounds: 7 — Takezo Nozu (野津　洸創)
• Assists: 12 — Eiji Shimoyama (下山　瑛司), 12-12 double-double

GAME RECAPa

NCCU beat Waseda 102-91 on Saturday night to reach their second straight AUBL final. They are now 9-0 across two AUBL seasons.

Waseda led the first quarter 27-26 with 2:32 on the clock before NCCU closed it on an 11-2 run. NCCU opened the second with eight straight points to go up 45-31 and Waseda did not lead again.

Late in the second, Eiji Shimoyama brought them back, making two 3-pointers in a 15-6 Waseda run that cut the deficit to 51-46 with 2:39 left in the half. Hsieh Yun Da answered with a 3-pointer and four free throws in a 9-0 NCCU run, and Shin Matsumoto's 3-pointer and free throw at the buzzer made it 60-52 at the break.

Waseda got within five three times in the third quarter and trailed 75-71 going to the fourth. Kenshin Kido's three-point play with 6:04 to play brought Waseda within 83-81, their closest since the first quarter. Hsieh Yun Da scored the next five points and NCCU led by at least five the rest of the way. Miura's free throws with 1:54 left made it 94-91. NCCU scored the last eight points.

Hsieh Yun Da had scored a total of 22 points in his three previous AUBL26 games combined. Against Waseda in the semifinals he dropped a career high 26. Boubacar Mboup took the sixth double-double of his AUBL career. Hsu Te Chi added 16 points and seven assists for NCCU, Wang Wei Jia had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Chang Chun Huai scored 12 on 6-of-10 shooting.

Shimoyama played all 40 minutes for the third time in four games. His fourth double-double of the tournament broke the AUBL single-season record of three, which he had shared with Mboup and Joel Monga Banza from AUBL25. Kido scored 14 for Waseda and their 91 points are the most any team has scored in an AUBL defeat.

LOOKING AHEAD

NCCU, extend their AUBL undefeated record to 9-0 and reach their second consecutive final. They meet SJTU, whom they beat 83-71 in the group stage on August 3. Waseda, in their first AUBL, drop to the third-place game against Tsinghua.