Luo "The Natural" Hsin-liang's seven three-pointers, en route to a season-high 32-point night, led the way for the Sina Lions to their second victory of the season in a 94-87 final against the Bank of Taiwan on Saturday.
The 13-year veteran found his groove from long range early and remained red-hot throughout the game by sinking 7-of-11 three-point attempts.
Although the Lions' defense allowed slightly more than their usual 85.4 points per contest, it didn't matter as the offense put up a new season-high scoring mark of 94 points, surpassing their previous mark of 89.
Yang Jing-ming managed to pour in 32 points for the bankers in the game, but it wasn't enough to prevent his team from becoming just the second club to fall to the Lions this season -- an undesirable distinction previously that is shared with Taiwan Beer.
Hunters 72, Taiwan Beer 67
The Videoland Hunters brought more than their rifles to Saturday's match against Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh and the rest of the brew-crew -- they also had ropes to help restrain the beast to under 10 points (nine) for the first time in two years to win the contest 72-67.
Despite having their top scorer (The Beast) neutralized for the most part of the game, the beermen actually held double-digit leads of up to 17 points in the third quarter, thanks to an outstanding showing by reserve shooting guard Lin Kuan-luen and center Ha Hsiao-yuan (scoring 12 and 11 points in the first half, respectively) in a brilliant first half.
But Hunters got on track in the second half to out-score the beermen 23-11 in the third quarter to reduce the 44-30 Taiwan Beer's halftime lead to just a deuce by the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Chen Hui led all scorers with 25 points, the best offensive effort of the season for the Hunters' point man by far, as they snapped a four-game losing skid.
Dinos 69, Tigers 56
The Yulon Dinos remained perfect last month (4-0) with a dominating 69-56 rout over the Dacin Tigers on Sunday -- the last team to deal the Dinos a defeat dating back to Jan. 30.
Small forward Chou Shih-yuan made the most of a sagging Tigers' defense by nailing 10-of-18 shots from the floor to ring up 26 points for the league-leading Dinos.
The Tigers pulled in their defense to defend against the Dinos' powerful inside game, led by All-Star center Tseng Wen-ding.
Only one Tiger (Tien Lei) managed to score in double digits as they hit a new season-low in total points with 56 on a rather forgettable night.
Antelopes 78, Lions 58
The Lions' attempt to win two in row ran into a hard wall on Sunday, as the ETTV Antelopes embarrassed the big cats by holding their lead scorer, Luo Hsin-liang, scoreless for the first time in two seasons in a 78-58 decision.
Second-year forward Wu Jia-long chipped in a career-best 28 points for the Antelopes as they outplayed the Lions in every aspect of the game.
These were not the same Lions that took it strong to the hoop on Friday against the bankers, putting a damper on an otherwise solid weekend of play.
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB