Chang Chih-fong's massive 43-point night, including a game-winning three-pointer with just under 30 seconds remaining, helped rally the Dacin Tigers past the Azio Eagles in a 97-96 win at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Friday night.
The fourth-year guard, known more for his outstanding defensive plays than the offensive threat that he has become, set a new single-game record for most three-pointers with 13, topping the previous mark of eleven by Yulon Dinos Chen "Airman" Hsin-an in 2004.
In addition to breaking the single-game, three-point shooting record, Chang also shattered the three-point shooting mark for a single quarter with seven during the final quarter of play to top the previous high of five.
"We knew we were behind by more than ten at one point in the fourth, so we had to go with the three's to try to get back in the game," Chang said. "And the shots just kept on going in."
The two teams played an extremely competitive first quarter that had the Eagles leading 29-26 before the Tigers answered with 25 second-quarter points (compared to the Eagles' 21) to end the first half up 51-50.
After another evenly fought third quarter had the Eagles claim a 74-69 advantage and eventually stretching it to 88-77 midway through the fourth.
Then Chang decided to take matters into his own hands by scoring 21 of the Tigers' 28 points in the quarter to keep the Eagles from staging the upset of the week.
"The coaching staff should take full responsibility for the loss after what our players did," a disappointed Eagles headman Liu Jin-tseh said after the game, referring to his team's inability to hold on to the lead late in the game.
"We knew he [Chang] was knocking down everything he was putting up, but we still could not come up with a defensive scheme to shut him down," Liu added in disgust.
Also starring for the Tigers besides Chang was Tien Lei as the three-time league MVP racked up 37 points and a dozen rebounds to improve his league-leading scoring average to a whopping 27.9 points per game.
Antelopes 112, Bank of Taiwan 83
Breaking the century mark in scoring for the first time this season, the ETTV Antelopes trounced Bank of Taiwan in a 112-83 rout earlier on Friday evening to snap a three-game losing streak.
Scoring early and often the Antelopes took 31-15 lead after the first quarter of play before maintaining the cushion at 16 in a closely-matched second quarter to end the first half leading 53-37.
A 7-0 run by the Antelopes to open the third quarter padded their lead to 23 points and forced Bank of Taiwan skipper Wei Chen-ming to call a timeout to slow down his opponents.
It nearly worked as the Bankers returned with a 33-18 scoring run over the next eight-plus minutes to reduce the ETTV lead to eight points.
But that was as close as they got as the Antelopes countered with a 12-0 run during a four-minute scoring drought by the Bankers to regain a 20-point lead, a lead they maintained until the end of the game.
US star Delvin Thomas shot an outstanding 8-for-10 from the floor, two of which were thunderous dunks that showed off his amazing vertical leap ability, en route to a 19-point, 12-rebound night.
The loss by the Bankers was their eighth in nine games.
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