Playing with their backs to the wall, Taiwan Beer overcame late-game foul shooting woes to beat the BCC Mars on Thursday in an 82-76 final.
Knowing that another loss would mathematically eliminate them from the postseason, the Beer men reached deep down to turn a three-point halftime deficit into a six-point victory to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Power forward Wu Chih-yuan filled up the middle nicely for Taiwan Beer as he scored a game-high 22 points with 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
His dominance inside the paint promptly opened up more room for team leader Lin "The Monster" Chih-jeh to maneuver. The tandem accounted for exactly half of Taiwan Beer's final points total.
Mars passing wizard Yen Hsing-shu led his team with 21 points to go along with his eight boards and four assists.
His erroneous pass with 42 seconds on the game clock ultimately cost the Mars the win.
Dinos 69, Lions 65
Chen Hsin-an took matters in his own hands late in the game with a key steal to help seal the victory for the Yulon Dinos against the Sina Lions.
The win gave the Dinos a two-all split in the regular season series against their archrival as the league's top two squads prepare for the upcoming postseason.
Still in search of their first win in nearly a month, the Lions showed plenty of heart on the floor in an attempt to snap their current five-game losing streak with valiant efforts inside by Huang Chuen-hsiung and Liu Yi-shiang. But their age once again caught up with them in the final three minutes of the contest as they managed to score only eight points to the Dinos 14 to lose the game by four points.
Tigers 89, Bank of Taiwan 74
The Dacin Tigers had their way on both ends of the floor as they crushed Bank of Taiwan on the eve of the presidential election in front of a record-low crowd of 122.
Jumping to an early 12-point first-quarter lead, the Tigers appeared to be heading for a blowout in the early going of the match.
However, Bank of Taiwan was not rattled as two runs of 11-4 and 8-4 would half the lead to six points.
Bank of Taiwan got as close as one point in the third quarter before the Tigers went on a 14-2 run.
Elephants 74, Tigers 73
The Tiger's road to the postseason turned bumpy with their one-point loss to the Elephants on Sunday afternoon.
Failing to build on their 15-point win over Bank of Taiwan on Thursday night, the Tigers saw their four-point lead with 52 seconds left in the game reduced to one as Elephant shooter Yang Yu-ming's long three-pointer caught nothing but the bottom of the net.
Two possessions and 46 seconds later, Elephants rookie center Wu Dai-hao received a perfect pass from teammate Hsu Tseh-hsin for a two-handed dunk that clinched the game for his team.
Mars 92, Bank of Taiwan 85
Bank of Taiwan gave Mars a near scare as they came back from a more than 20 point first-half deficit to lead the game for part of the second half, before faltering in the end for the tough loss.
The win put the Mars in a two-way tie for third place with the Tigers as the season winds down to three more regular season contests.
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