Winning two games for the second week in a row, the Bank of Taiwan stretched its winning streak to four straight for the first time in team history during local pro basketball action over the weekend.
After beating the defending champs, the Yulon Dinos, in a huge upset on Jan. 7 to kick off the streak, the bankers also trounced YMY on Jan. 8 before defeating the Dacin Tigers and the Videoland Hunters.
Bank of Taiwan handed the Tigers their third straight defeat for the first time in three years on Saturday in an 88-82 decision on the strength of a 30-point, fourth-quarter rally that turned a seven-point deficit into a six-point victory.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SBL
Power forward Chuang Hsiao-wen continued his red-hot shooting from the previous week with a team-high 21 points, followed by reserve forward Yueh Li-ying's season-high 15 points.
Backcourt tandem Wu Yong-ren and Chien Ming-fu also chipped in a combined 25 points for the financial wizards on a night that they could seem to do no wrong.
The Tigers outplayed the bankers through the first three quarter, behind another stellar performance of team icon Tien Lei (28 points, 11 rebounds and five assists), with three other players scoring in double digits.
But by the time fourth quarter rolled around, the big cats simply ran out of gas since they were playing their second game in as many days following a 94-85 loss to the Hunters on Friday night, while the bankers' club had the advantage of fresher legs.
Bank of Taiwan 78, Hunters 65
The bankers made it look easy against the Hunters in a 78-65 final on Sunday with a tremendous game from forward Lin Chuin-fong, whose 26 points and eight boards led his club in both statistical categories.
Lin's 13 first-quarter points not only helped the Bank of Taiwan to a 24-15 advantage after the first quarter, it set the tone for them in a game where the bankers never trailed.
Poor shooting by the Hunters, coupled with the bankers' outstanding jobs on the glass, led Bank of Taiwan to a big 46-to-22 rebounding edge, limiting the Hunters' offense.
The Hunters' sound defense in the second quarter, which held the bankers to just nine points for the quarter, was the only highlight for them in a game where they never felt comfortable running the half-court offense.
Forward Yang Tseh-yi scored 17 points for the Hunters, followed by the trio of Lin Jia-huang, Lai Guo-hong and Hsu Kai-jeh, who rang up 10 points each for the Hunters.
Taiwan Beer 65, Dinos 59
Bank of Taiwan was not the only team to log a perfect weekend, as Taiwan Beer also netted a pair of victories, including a dramatic come-from-behind win over the Dinos on Sunday for a 9-3 mark and a share of the lead in the league standings.
Despite a poor start, scoring only four points in the first quarter to trail the Dinos 22-4 at the end of the first quarter, the brewers never lost their confidence as they chipped away at the Dinos' lead in a brilliant second quarter to cut the deficit to just three points by the end of the first half.
After a 7-0 run by the Dinos early in the second half, the beermen quickly found themselves down by ten again, with their top scorer Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh being hit with two technical fouls for arguing calls with the referees.
It took a wild 11-0 run by Taiwan Beer early in the fourth quarter to give the beermen their first lead of the game, turning the once-lopsided contest into a seesaw battle the rest of the way.
Veteran center Shang Wei-fang rose to the occasion for Taiwan Beer in the game-deciding fourth quarter by scoring nine of his 11 points in the final quarter.
But it was Shang's two-point jumper with 14 seconds remaining that put Taiwan Beer ahead by five to sealed the win.
Twenty-two costly turnovers by the Dinos, nearly eight more than their season average of 14.1 prior to the game, were to blame for the defending champs' sub-par performance in their third loss of the season.
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