In his first 5-on-5 game since February 23, 2020, Jason Brickman showed no rust.
The 6-foot Filipino-American floor general steered Kaohsiung to a thrilling 107-106 win over TaiwanBeer in the first-ever game of the T1 League, Saturday evening at the Taipei City University Tianmu Campus Gymnasium.
Brickman got eight assists in the game against two turnovers with seven rebounds, three points, and two steals.
And his poise was important for the Aquas especially late in the game.
With the game knotted at 106-all with 1.8 seconds left, Brickman drove to the hoop and threw a wrap-around pass to Mindaugas Kupsas. Kupsas was able to draw a foul on Zhu Yizong that sent him to the stripe.
Kupsas made the first free throw and with Taiwan Beer having no timeouts left, intentionally missed the second.
Diamond Stone threw a hail mary from three-fourths of the court but missed as chaos ensued afterward.
Players and officials from Taiwan Beer tried to charge at the game officials for calling the foul. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed.
Kupsas had 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting for Kaohsiung with 15 rebounds while Hu Longmao also got a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds.
Ferrekohn Hall added 17 points from off the bench while Xavier Alexander chipped in 12 points and six rebounds.
The Aquas were behind early, falling by as much as 16 points in the second period. They eventually rallied back, getting their first taste of the lead after an and-one play of Hu Longmao that gave Kaohsiung a 73-71 lead midway through the third canto.
Kaohsiung led by as much as 13 points early in the final frame before the HeroBears stormed back, gaining a 104-98 lead with 2:46 left.
Brickman triggered Kaohsiung’s fightback, finding Hu for a bucket before knocking down a trey that cut TaiwanBeer’s lead to one.
Jiang Luyoan scored on a clutch bucket to stop the bleeding for the HeroBears but Hall knotted the game with another triple to tie things up and set up the thrilling finish.
The HeroBears saw Stone score 44 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the field and 11-of-11 shooting from the stripe with 13 rebounds
Mi Qiu added 23 points and nine rebounds while Li Qiwei and Jiang Luyuan had 16 and 11 points, respectively.
Brickman and Kaohsiung will next face New Taipei on December 5.
