BASKETBALL/Chou Yi-hsiang's historic buzzer-beater propels Pilots past Braves

Taipei, March 4 (CNA) The Taoyuan Pauian Pilots defeated the Taipei Fubon Braves 94-92 at the Taoyuan Arena on Sunday, thanks to a game-winning buzzer-beater from small forward Chou Yi-hsiang (周儀翔), the first in P.LEAGUE+ (PLG) history.

The Pilots trailed by one point with only 1.5 seconds left in the game after the Braves' center, Ihor Zaytsev, banked in a shot off an offensive rebound.

After a timeout, Chou received an inbound pass beyond the arc from Chen Yu-jul (陳昱瑞), pump faking as Braves small forward Jet Chang (張宗憲) glided past him. The 33-year-old veteran then made a dribble to his right and pulled shot, well beyond Braves guard Chou Kuei-yu's (周桂羽) reach.

The buzzer sounded, the ball went in and the Pilots won.

The release and the buzzer were so close that the referees reviewed the instant replay before confirming that the ball left Chou Yi-hsiang's hand with 0.05 seconds left.

Asked about the key to the win, Chou Yi-hsiang attributed it to the perseverance of the entire team.

"None of us surrendered even though we only had 1.5 seconds. We kept going as long as we had a chance," Chou Yi-hsiang said after the game, expressing his gratitude to the Taoyuan fanbase.

The shot, described by the league's English channel anchor Ryan Chen (陳瑞恩) as one that "we at the PLG have been begging for for many years," prompted commentator Wang Hsin-kai (王信凱) to say to Chou Yi-hsiang in the postgame interview: "Yi-hsiang, welcome back."

Wang said he was blessed to witness that shot. Similar excitement was shared by another league commentator, Hu Chun-chi (胡鈞期), who said in his YouTube streaming that he wished he had been there to broadcast the game.

At the postgame press conference, Pilots head coach Iurgic Caminos revealed that Chou Yi-hsiang reached out to him three weeks ago and said he wanted to take the last shot.

"Today I gave him the last ball, and he did what he had to do," said Caminos, pointing out that even when Chou did not deliver one day ago, his mere presence on the court significantly elevated the team's offensive and defensive ratings.

Chou recorded zero double-figure games in six games before the Lunar New Year break. He had three in four games after the break, with the Pilots climbing up to third in the league, only 0.5 games back from the New Taipei Kings.

Meanwhile, Chang said losing on the last shot of the game is "rather demoralizing."

This is the second time the Braves lost on the opponent's last shot this season. On Feb 3, they yielded to the Kaohsiung 17LIVE Steelers 90-89 given Wang Lu-hsiang's (王律翔) trey made with 1.38 seconds till the buzzer.

"But at the end of the day, it's just a game, and the bottom line is to figure out how to regain our confidence by the next game," the 2020-21 PLG regular season MVP said.

The Braves fell to fifth place after the game, only ahead of the Kaohsiung 17LIVE Steelers, but the three-time defending champions are only four games back from the league-leading Formosa Dreamers.