The Yulon Dinos became the first team to score over 100 points this season in a dominating 112-83 win over YMY at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Saturday.
Despite the absence of starting point guard Chen Chih-chung and perimeter threat Chou Shih-yuan, the defending champions easily handled YMY by getting a strong performance from reserve guard Liu Shen-yao (18 points and two assists) and second-year power forward Lu Cheng-rue (15 points and two assists).
Both clubs began with a high-scoring first quarter, with the Dinos holding the edge, 27-23.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SBL
Unhappy with his team's defensive effort, Dinos coach Lee Yun-kuan switched to a half-court trapping defense in the second quarter, forcing five YMY turnovers while limiting YMY to just 11 points in the quarter.
Luo "The Natural" Hsin-liang took over the game with twelve points in a 28-point third quarter for YMY as it reduced the Dinos lead to ten heading into the fourth quarter.
But the Dinos then poured in 39 fourth-quarter points (a new league record for single-quarter scoring) to put the game away for good.
Six different Dinos left the game with double-digit scoring, led by Liu's 18.
Chiou Chi-yi also had 10 in his first start of the season.
A near non-existing defense harmed the YMY effort, despite the fact that four different players scored in double digits.
Bank of Taiwan 87, Hunters 80
Sound defense turned into the best offense for Bank of Taiwan as it ended 2005 on a high note, beating a flat Hunters club 87-80.
The high-pressure bankers' defense forced 11 first-half turnovers (21 for the game), many of which became easy fast-break points. The financiers deposited an eight-point lead (41-33) heading into the halftime break.
The second half of the game was basically a replay of the first half, with the bankers rushing the ball up the court.
In addition to outrunning their opponents, Bank of Taiwan also won the rebounding battle by a 44-37 margin, with several put-back baskets coming off their 17 rebounds off the offensive glass.
Power forward Lee Chi-yi lead the Hunters offense with 28 points.
Taiwan Beer 64, Antelopes 51
The ETTV Antelopes' bid to win two in a row hit a major roadblock in an ugly 64-51 loss to Taiwan Beer on New Year's Eve.
The brew crew was simply too fast and too sharp for the Antelopes.
Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh continued his red-hot shooting for the beermen, draining three three-pointers in the first half en route to a 23-point night, as teammate Chen Shih-nian chipped in a dozen.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier