Wu Chih-yuan's pair of three-pointers in the closing minutes sealed the victory for Taiwan Beer, as it dealt the previously red-hot Dacin Tigers a 90-80 loss in Super Basketball League action at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Saturday, ending the big cats, five-game winning streak.
The battle for second place in the standings lived up to its billing through the first three quarters, with the brew crew leading by a deuce (64-62) before pulling away strong in the final quarter.
Tien Lei of the Tigers, the SBL's new scoring leader with a 26.8 points-per-game average, out-scored his longtime scoring rival Lin Chih-jeh of Taiwan Beer 31-21. But Lin had the last laugh as the brewers, with an unusually balanced attack, secured the win. Two other Taiwan Beer players scored 20 or more points in the game.
"That's fine with me, as long as we win the game," Lin said when he heard that Tien's overtook him as the league's leading scorer.
Lin had four assists for the game, which led to 10 points for Taiwan Beer. Tien's had only one assist.
Point guard Chen Shih-nian also had a monstrous showing for the brew crew with 21 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double night.
Poor free throw shooting by the Tigers (5-for-12) also contributed to the tough loss as they failed to make over half of the free throw attempts for the first time this season.
Bank of Taiwan 90, Antelopes 84
An 11-0 run in the game's final three minutes rallied the Bank of Taiwan from being down six to beat the ETTV Antelopes 90-84, handing the Antelopes their third straight loss.
Despite having three of their starters (Lin "Killer Bee" Chuin-fong, Wu Yong-ren and Chu Yong-hong) fouling out in the game, the resilient bankers still managed to come up with the win by having forwards Yang Jin-ming and Chen Hsuen-shiang pick up the scoring slack.
Three three's by Wu helped the bankers' point guard achieve a team-high 23 points, followed by Chen's 21 and Yang's 18.
As for the Antelopes, top scorer Yang Yu-ming had his usual solid game with 20 points and two rebounds.
Unlike their two other losses in the current three-game slump, the Antelopes did not fall behind early. But like the Tigers, a dismal outing from behind the free throw line (going 11-for-22) ultimately cost the Antelopes the game as their hope to qualify for the postseason faded with the loss.
YMY 98, Dinos 118
The Yulon Dinos set a new league record in single-game scoring with a 118-98 win over YMY to hand the young-and-frustrated team its 20th loss in a row.
All-Star center Tseng Wen-ding's 14 first-quarter points set the tone early for the defending champs, as they took a 35-20 lead into the second quarter and never looked back.
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