Ho Sho-cheng did not have a good game as far as the statistics were concerned. Three of his Taiwan Beer mates scored more than the 13 points he had in the game against the Yulon Dinos in Super Basketball League action at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Saturday.
But it was his eight points, four of which came on a game-clinching, four-point play during overtime, that helped his team beat the league-leading Dinos 110-103.
The showdown between the league's top two squads saw Taiwan Beer taking a 19-18 lead after the first quarter, before the Dinos answered with a 25-point second quarter to close out the first half with a two-point advantage (43-41).
PHOTO COURTESY OF SBL
Forward Wu Chih-yuan of the beer crew picked up the scoring slack left by team leader Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh's dismal two-point first half with 14 points, while the Dinos looked to center Tseng Wen-ding and point guard Chen Chih-chung for the bulk of the scoring in the first half.
With Lin regaining his shooting touch and point guard Chen Shih-nian pitching in nine points with several strong drives to the basket in the third quarter, Taiwan Beer managed to reclaim a 65-64 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Dinos were able to build a five-point cushion behind the outside shooting of Chen and small forward Chou Shih-yuan when an unsportsmanlike conduct call on Tseng gave Taiwan Beer two free throws and possession of the ball in a four-point turnaround to keep the beermen alive in the closing minutes.
Down by three with 27 seconds remaining, reserve guard Hsu Hao-cheng drained a clutch three-pointer to forced the game into overtime.
The win by Taiwan Beer cut the Dinos' lead to a half-game with nine games remaining in the regular season.
Bank of Taiwan 99, Hunters 96
The Bank of Taiwan overcame a double-digit deficit in the final five minutes to defeat the Videoland Hunters 99-96.
A strong inside game by veteran center Lai Guo-hong led the way for the Hunters' attack while the bankers relied on their sound perimeter game in an evenly played first half that ended 44-all.
Then the Hunters went on a scoring spree with Lai doing the damage in the low post to go up by a dozen in the third quarter.
It took the bankers 36 fourth-quarter points, highlighted by a 10-0 run in the final two minutes of the game, to turn the double-digit deficit into a three point lead.
Even though the Hunters had a few chances to force a tie with the bankers missing several free throws late in the game, they could not put up a clean shot to send the game into overtime.
Bank of Taiwan shot an amazing 40-for-67 from the floor, including 11-19 shooting from behind the three-point arc -- by far their best shooting performance of the season.
YMY 85, Antelopes 88
YMY saw its chance to break out of the 18-game losing skid disappear with the ETTV Antelopes making key baskets late in the game to preserve their lead in a close 88-85 finish.
"Nobody wants to be the team that YMY ends up beating," Antelope coach Lee Yun-shiang said.
YMY has lost 19 consecutive games.
Yang Yu-ming's game-high 27 points led an Antelopes attack that featured three players in double-digit scoring.
Luo "The Natural" Hsin-liang led YMY with 19 points.
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