China-bound Duncan Reid shines as Hong Kong lose Asia Cup basketball opener to Taiwan

Duncan Reid gave new Chinese club Zhejiang Chouzhou a glimpse of what they can expect next season after scoring 19 points and also contributing 12 rebounds and five assists during Hong Kong’s opening 77-62 defeat by Taiwan at the Asia Cup regional basketball tournament in Lebanon on Tuesday.

Forward Reid, who was picked up by the Chinese Basketball Association side last week after helping South China win the top-tier A1 Division championship, produced an outstanding display to help Hong Kong improve on their 92-57 defeat by the same opposition at the East Asia Championship in Japan in June.

“We executed our game plan well which was to get the ball inside where we had an advantage,” said Reid.

“As a team defensively we competed well and rebounded very well for the most part.”

Against Taiwan, Hong Kong held a 18-13 lead after the first quarter, and maintained that five-point advantage at half-time.

Watch: Taiwan 77-62 Hong Kong highlights

But after Taiwan hit back with a 25-18 third quarter to lead 55-53, Hong Kong faded in the final quarter and only managed nine points compared to 22 from their opponents.

Lo Yi-ting finished with 10 points, two rebounds and one assist for Hong Kong.

Reid had already predicted before the group D opener at Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex that a lack of preparation would cost Hong Kong, having only trained together for a week.

Hong Kong face mission impossible at the 2017 Asia Cup

“The local regular season finished on July 28, leaving us only with one week to prepare in comparison to other teams preparing between 6-8 weeks,” Reid said.

Also in group D, Australia warmed up for their meeting with Hong Kong by beating Japan 84-64 earlier in Beirut.

Cameron Gliddon and Jason Cadee top scored with 13 points each for Australia.

Elsewhere, fellow Asia Cup debutants New Zealand beat Kazakhstan 70-49 in group C, while hosts Lebanon recorded a 72-66 win over South Korea.

“Australia is going to be extremely tough due to the large size difference and the experience of their squad,” said Reid.

“We are going to focus on packing the paint and try to slow the game down as much as possible.”