Day 3 of competition in the 2006 Hualien Probation Basketball Invitational Tournament Friday had the Yulon Dinos overcoming a five-point halftime deficit to top the Bank of Taiwan in the eventual 102-87 win.
The Bank of Taiwan played the three-time Super Basketball League champs tough in a solid first half that helped them build a 46-41 advantage, but failed to continue their success during the second half as they fell victim to an offensive explosion by the Dinos (61 points) in second half to lose the game by 15 in the end.
Dinos small forward Chou Shih-yuan led all scorers with 23 points, including seven three-pointers in a game that featured over 20 long-range bombs between the two squads.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HPB
Bank of Taiwan 95, Team Japan 93
The bankers upset the Osaka Evessa of Japan in a 95-93 thriller for their first win of the tournament late Friday evening behind nine four-quarter points by point guard Jien Ming-fu.
It was Jien's clutch three-pointer with a minute remaining in the game that gave the financial wizards a 94-91 lead, which they kept until the final buzzer.
The Evessa was able to cut the bankers' lead to one following Jien's three-pointer on a bucket by Lynn Washington. But that was close as they got with Lin Chuin-fong of the bankers sinking a crucial free throw in the game's final seconds to secure the win for his team.
Friday's other matches had the Dacin Tigers downing the Videoland Hunters 84-74 and the ETTV Antelopes beating YMY 104-88 to round out the day's play.
South Korea 92, Taiwan Beer 75
Taiwan Beer dropped its first game of the tournament to South Korea in a 92-75 decision to fall to a 2-1 mark.
The showdown between the top two teams in Group A did not live up to the expectation as the brewers dug a big hole for themselves during the game-deciding third quarter in which they scored only 13 points, after hanging tough with their South Koreans in a physical first half trailing South Korea by a point.
The absence of big men ha Hsiao-yuan and Wu Chih-yuan, along with top scorer Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh definitely took its toll for Taiwan Beer as they watched an undefeated South Korean team (3-0) celebrate the win in joy, one victory shy of a ticket into the championship game.
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