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Taiwan Beer stages impressive comeback over Dinos

Taiwan Beer accomplished an almost impossible mission by overcoming a 12-point, fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Yulon Dinos in overtime by a score of 82-78 at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium last night, kicking off the new SBL season in grand style.

Ho Sho-cheng's clutch three-pointer with 1:40 remaining in overtime gave the beer men a 75-72 lead and they never looked back as fellow guards Chen Shih-nian and Luo "the Natural" Hsin-liang followed with two more threes to deny the Dinos any realistic chance to rally to preserve the impressive victory.

The game's high scorer, Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh, shot 12-for-23 from the field, including six big three-pointers to lead the Taiwan Beer attack with 33 points on the night, making an early statement in what should be an exciting season ahead.

Five threes in the first quarter alone powered the Taiwan Beer offense in the early going.

But the defending champs were not rattled at all. The stellar play of all-star center Tseng Wen-ding helped the team to take an 18-17 lead over the beer crew at the end of the first quarter.

A 2-1/2 minute scoring drought for Taiwan Beer, coupled with several crafty buckets by the Dinos inside the paint, quickly extended their lead to as large as 10 points in the second quarter before the Beast took over the game by sinking a pair of NBA-range threes to keep his team within striking distance.

The 41-32 Dinos lead at the half was reduced to six points during the third quarter, with neither team getting comfortable running its half-court offense, as veteran Yulon forward Chou Hong-yu helped carry the bulk of his team's offense with seven points in the quarter, while five different players scored for Taiwan Beer.

And with the Dinos leading 56-50 at the start of the fourth quarter and building a 12-point lead just two minutes into the quarter, the stage was set for Taiwan Beer in an incredible 12-2 run that suddenly had the once-high flying Dinos' backs against the wall.

Taiwan Beer actually took a brief 70-68 lead at the 1:04 mark when the Beast took an inbound pass on the fly and drew a foul to complete a three-point play the old-school way, before Dinos guard Lee Hsueh-lin put back an equalizer to force a tie at 70-all with under a minute to play in regulation.

Chou Shih-yuan of the Dinos had two decent looks at the basket in the closing seconds of a 70-70 tie to give the Dinos the win, but failed to convert either, sending the contest into overtime where Taiwan Beer ruled.

Upcoming Games

Three games are scheduled for today with ETTV Antelopes set to take on the Videoland Hunters at 3pm this afternoon, followed by Bank of Taiwan's showdown against the Dacin Tigers at 5pm and Azio's SBL debut versus Taiwan Beer at 7pm.
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