Hsu Tseh-hsin's 19-point second half (21 points for the game), including two key free throws that put the his team up by four in the game's closing moments, helped the ETTV Antelopes edge past the Dacin Tigers in a 76-72 final on Saturday at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium.
The win kept the fifth-placed Antelopes' playoff hopes alive as they trail the fourth-placed Taiwan Beer by a half-game in the Chinese Professional Basketball League standings with five games remaining in the regular season.
Scoring early and often, the Antelopes managed to take leads as big as 13 points in the first half, before the Tigers bounced back with a coupe of scoring runs of their own to close out the half trailing by only nine (40-31).
A 14-0 run by the Tigers toward the end of the third quarter and several costly turnovers by the Antelopes gave the Tigers their first lead of the game with under six minutes left to play in the fourth quarter.
But the resilient Antelopes' attack would settle in and answer with a 11-3 scoring run in the game's final four minutes to regain the lead for good.
Antelopes guard Yang Yu-ming had a game-high 22 points, while center Wu Dai-hao pitched in another 17. Wu also tied the record for most blocked-shots in a game with eight.
Tiger great Tien Lei's bid for 10 consecutive double-doubles was a success as he netted 20 points and 17 rebounds for the game.
But poor ball handling by the Tigers' backcourt in the first half dug a hole too deep for them to overcome.
Tigers 80, Taiwan Beer 71
Sunday's matchup-of-the-week between Taiwan Beer and the Tigers was won by the big cats in the crucial second quarter where veteran forward Hsu "Birdie" Chih-chao contributed 11 of his team's 23 points in the quarter to help the Tigers take a dozen-point halftime lead (38-26).
Taiwan Beer never got closer than within eight points, despite utility man Ho Sho-cheng's 11-point third quarter and a pair of NBA-range three-pointers by team icon Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh in the second half.
Ha Hsiao-yuan's absence was sorely felt as the brew masters took on the second-most potent offense in the league.
Ha was serving a two-game suspension for getting into a fight the previous week.
Failure to hit the threes in the fourth quarter also hurt Taiwan Beer because the Tigers defenders made it difficult out on the perimeters with blanket-like coverage on the Taiwan Beer shooters.
"A couple of our guys were still too keen on taking the big shots for us and trying to be the hero of the day that they weren't thinking about passing the ball to the opened man," Taiwan Beer coach Yen Jia-hua of said.
"Basketball is a team sport and too much individualism will really kill you."
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