Lions roar into playoffs as Bank succumbs

The Sina Lions secured a second-seed berth in the upcoming postseason with an 82-75 victory over Bank of Taiwan to hit off the final weekend of regular season actions.

Coach Hu Tsai-lin (胡再麟) managed to rest his starting lineup during a good part of the game while reserve players took to the floor for some much-needed game experience.

The move nearly backfired because the Bank of Taiwan would not go away quietly as the outfit fought back hard to reduce a 20-point deficit to just five points with one minute left to play.

Bank's refusal to quit not only secured them a moral victory, it drew the Lion starting lineup onto the court to finish the final minute of the contest.

Elephants 97, Taiwan Beer 77

With their backs against the wall in a must-win situation, the Jeoutai Elephants stunned Taiwan Beer in an offense explosion that just missed the century mark by three points on Saturday afternoon.

In order to make it into the postseason, the Elephants needed to win and pray for a Mars loss against the Dacin Tigers on Sunday night.

And the Elephants did their part by putting 51 points on the board in the first half, en route to the 20-point blowout.

Led by sharpshooter Yang Yu-ming's (楊玉明) 33-point effort, all five Elephants starters reached double figures in scoring while the team shot better than 60 percent from the floor.

As for the Beer men, their future looks bright as the young team will gel around team leader Lin "the Monster" Chih-jeh (林志傑) and have many promising seasons to come.

Tigers 85, Dinos 77

The Tigers showed that they can dance with the best in their trouncing of the league-leading Yulon Dinos on Saturday night. The win secured the Tigers a third-seed berth and a date with the Lions in round one of the playoffs.

All-star forward Tien Lei (田壘) led the way for the Tigers with 25 points and 13 rebounds in an awesome offensive display that ended the Dinos' regular season on a sour note.

Mars 90, Lions 79

The Elephants' victory on Saturday reduced the Mars' season to a one-game struggle; a win would earn them a ticket into the postseason as the fourth-seed contender, while a loss would send them packing.

The conservative Mars' offense went to work inside against the aging Lion frontcourt by feeding big men Lee Chi-yi (李啟億) and Lai Guo-hung (賴國宏) the ball down low. The strategy paid big dividends as Lee and Lai combined to score 26 of the Mars' 59 first-half points, giving the Mars a 19-point first-half lead.

Even though the Lions were able to outscore the Mars in the second half by eight points, it was nowhere near enough to overcome the deficit as they settled for the 11-point loss.

Bank of Taiwan 91, Taiwan Beer 73

The regular season finale between Bank of Taiwan and Taiwan Beer on Sunday had no bearing on the postseason for either team, but was a delight to watch because Bank of Taiwan played their best offensive game of the season by far in scoring 91 points to beat the Beer men.

Reserve guard Hsu Hao-cheng (許皓程) led the financial wizards with 27 points in his first 40-minute effort as five different Bank of Taiwan players scored 10 points or more for the final game of the season.