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Antelopes turn tables on Hunters to earn 84-81 win

Hsin Jin-chan's three-pointer with 1.8 seconds remaining in overtime broke an 81-81 tie for the ETTV Antelopes as they beat the top-ranked Videoland Hunters by 84-81 at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Friday night to extend their winning streak to a team-best five in a row.

Hsin might have been the hero of the game for delivering the game-winner but it was fellow power forward Delvin Thomas' buzzer-beating put-back basket off a miss by Hsin in regulation time that forced the contest into extra sessions and put the Antelopes in the position to pull off the upset.

"I guess it's nice to be in a run like this, you really can't complain about anything," Hsin said after game, referring to his recent offensive surge that gave him an 18.3 point-per-game scoring average over the last three games.

The weekend opener for both squads had the Antelopes take a rapid 9-2 lead early on before the Hunters answered with a 11-3 run to close out the first quarter down by a deuce (20-18).

After an evenly fought second quarter the Antelopes were able to maintain a one-point lead at the half way point, thanks to nine combined points by Hsin and guard shooting team captain Yan Yu-ming.

The Hunters built leads as large as six points early in the fourth on the strength of a 13-2 run. But poor free throw shooting by the normally dependable Hunters allowed the Antelopes a chance to chip away at their lead, ultimately forcing the contest into overtime.

Four different Antelopes players managed double-digit scores with Hsin's 16 leading the way.

As for the hapless Hunters, losers in three of their last four, versatile forward Jonathan Sanders' fourth double-20 outing (28 points and 23 rebounds) was the lone highlight of the evening.

"The breaks seemed to go their way most of the time tonight," Hunters head coach Liu Chih-wei said.

Taiwan Beer 85, Tigers 81

A sellout crowd was treated to a classic match in Game Two on Friday night where Taiwan Beer held off a tenacious Tigers rally to win by a narrow 85-81 margin.

Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh came out of a mini four-game slump, during which he had averaged a dismal 14.8 points per game (compared to his season average of 20.9), with 32 points in the game to lead the Beer crew past the Tigers.

The showdown between the Beast and the Tigers' Tien Lei was a two-man scoring affair from the word go, with the Beast downing 32 for Taiwan Beer and Tien netting a season-high 45 points for Dacin.

After an all-Taiwan Beer second quarter and five NBA-range three-pointers by the Beast that helped the men in white-and-green to a comfortable 12-point cushion midway through the third, the Tigers were ready to corral around Tien for another fourth-quarter comeback.

And they nearly succeeded with Tien pouring in a dozen in the fourth quarter to not only erase the deficit but actually earn his side the lead briefly before coming up a tad short in the end.

Trailing by three with less than 20 seconds remaining, the Tigers had one final chance to force overtime with Tien driving strong to the hoop in the hope of a three-point play. But the call that Tien was looking for never came, turning the game into a free throw contest as the Tigers were forced to foul immediately in the interest of preserving time.

Taiwan Beer in turn sank all four of the free throw attempts in the closing seconds to earn a dramatic win.
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