Decisive victories over the Bank of Taiwan and Taiwan Beer in the Super Basketball League over the weekend put the once-flat Dacin Tigers only two games behind the league-leading Yulon Dinos.
Saturday's 79-59 blowout against the bankers at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium set the tone for weekend for the big cats as they clawed through the middle of the bankers' defense at will, hitting several uncontested layups.
Power forward Tien Lei hit a new league mark in single-game scoring with 44 points, topping Taiwan Beer scoring machine Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh's previous high of 43 that Lin had set earlier this season.
Despite placing four players in double-figure scoring, the bankers were never in sync with their offensive flow as they tumbled in their lowest-scoring outing of the season.
Holding the usually explosive beermen's offense to just nine points in the first quarter, the Tigers roared again in Sunday's match against the brewmasters in an 86-68 decision.
Point guard Wang Chih-chun neared another triple-double performance with 13 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for the game.
The Tigers' second-year field general became the SBL's only triple-double man on Feb. 8 when he turned in a 19-point, 11-rebound and 13-assist performance.
After playing a miserable first quarter, the brewers returned to their normal form by putting up nearly 20 points per quarter the rest of the way, but costly misuses that had led to the 22-9 first quarter deficit proved to be too much to overcome.
Hunters 80, Dinos 79
The Videoland Hunters also collected a pair of wins over the weekend in even more dramatic fashion.
Lee Chi-yi's 6m fade-away jumper at the buzzer in Saturday's showdown between the Hunters and the league-leading Yulon Dinos gave the Hunters a thrilling 80-79 win over the league-leaders.
The loss was their first since late-January and only their fourth of the season.
Nine first-half three-pointers by the Hunters helped build a 43-29 halftime lead before a relentless rally that included an all-out, full-court press by the Dinos in the fourth quarter helped to erase the deficit and give the defending champions a 79-78 lead with under five ticks left on the clock. Center Tseng Wen-ding then scored a field goal and was fouled on the play.
It was Tseng's miss on the ensuing free throw that made Lee Chi-yi's late-game magic count, because a made shot by Tseng would have forced a tie instead of a Hunters' win.
"The Dinos ability to come back really showed why they are leading the league," Hunters' assistant coach Chou Hai-rong said after the game. "I'm just glad we were able to walk away with the win. We need to work harder in the future on protecting leads."
Hunters 88, Lions 79
Sunday's contest against the Sina Lions was not the expected walk in the park for the Hunters as they fought off a tenacious attack by the beasts, led by reserve forwards Lu Cheng-ru and Chang Yu-lin.
It wasn't until the second half that the Hunters managed to pull away and eventually prevailed in the 88-79 final, thanks to small forward Yang Tseh-yi's 25-point effort.
Yang accounted for 23 of the Hunters' 31 fourth-quarter points.
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