Yulon Dinos continue their unbeaten run

Friday night's contest between the Yulon Dinos and the Jeoutai Elephants turned out to be a much closer game than expected, with the undefeated Dinos escaped with a 63-60 win.

The game began with the Elephants taking a five-point, first-period lead that would grow to as large as 10. Then the Dinos awoke and put together a mini 13-3 run to tie the score at 35 for the first half.

Both teams had trouble finding the basket in the third quarter as they combined to score a record-low 23 points, before the Dinos rediscovered their shooting touch in the fourth en route to the win.

Dino center Tseng Wen-ding (曾文鼎) led all scorers with 20 points and a dozen hard-fought boards in a performance worthy of the weekly "Mister Hustle" recognition, while Elephants' scoring machine Yang Yu-ming (楊玉明) missed two three-point shots late in the game that ultimately cost his team the win.

Taiwan Beer 71, Dacin 80

Lin "the Monster" Chih-jeh's (林志傑) 0-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc against the Tigers was just one of many indications that the beer men could be in for a long season.

The former scoring leader simply could not carry his team like he had done previously as oppositions continued to blanket him with at least two defenders as long as he was on the court.

It was the second straight game that the 21-year-old graduate of Chinese Culture University failed to score more than 20 points.

"Maybe the flu is taking its toll on my performance." Lin told the press after the game when asked about his recent slide.

Paving the way for the Tigers' fifth win of the season was Tien Lei (田壘), whose 27-point, 16-rebound outburst propelled the 20-year-old past Lin for the lead in individual scoring for the first time this season.

Sina 87, BCC 81

The BCC Mars appeared to have gotten over the injuries and flu that had either sidelined or limited four of their starters, scoring a brilliant 48 points in the first half against the second-placed Sina Lions on Saturday night.

That was before the Lions roared back in the third period to reduce the 13-point half-time deficit to just four and eventually moved ahead for the victory.

Failing to keep the paint cleared of Lion big man Huang Chuen-hsiung (黃春雄) as they did in the first half, the Mars defense began to "cheat inside" in the second half, a move that would open up the perimeter for guards Luo Hsin-liang (羅興樑) and Chou Jung-san (周俊三).

Chou's three-pointer broke a 78-all tie late in the game to give the Lions the lead for good as they downed the Mars once again to up the winning streak to seven.

Yulon 75, Bank of Taiwan 65

The Dinos continued their unbeaten run on Sunday afternoon against the Bank of Taiwan with an impressive 75-65 win.

The victory gave the Dinos a perfect 11-0 record as they handled the bankers without much trouble.

Staring for the Dinos, in the absence of team leader Chen Hsin-an (陳信安) due to a high fever, was point guard Chen Chih-chung (陳志忠), who put on a shooting clinic with a 9-for-10 performance from the floor en route to his game-high 22 points.

Missing in action for the financial wizards in their second straight game was muscle man Chu Yung-hung (朱永弘), who could only cheer on his team from the sideline because of a rib injury he sustained two weeks ago.

Dacin 60, Jeoutai 89

For the second straight week, the Elephants played the role of spoilers as they surprised the Dacin Tigers in the weekend finale with a dominating 89-60 win.