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Tigers edge out Hunters in close fought match

ETTV Antelopes forward Delvin Thomas fights for a rebound in Friday night's game against the Yulon Dinos in Taipei. PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE SBL

Lee Wei-min's miss on an uncontested lay-up with time expiring cost the Videoland Hunters dear on Friday evening as they dropped an 88-87 nailbiter to the Dacin Tigers at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium in front of a sellout crowd.

The hard-fought match between the third and fourth-ranked teams in the league went down to the wire with the Tigers taking a one-point lead on power forward Tien Lei's acrobatic floater at the 29.5 second mark in the fourth quarter.

The Hunters immediately called a timeout and tried to isolate their top scorer Jonathan Sanders against Tien for the equalizer. But against tremendous defensive pressure from the Tigers, the American was able to find a wide open Lee underneath the basket with time expiring for what seemed to be the game-winning score, only to see him bounce the ball too high off the glass for the devastating miss and hence the loss.

A porous Hunters defense that allowed the Tigers to score at will resulted in a 52-45 Tigers lead at the half on the strength of 30 combined points by Tien and point guard Wang Chih-chuin.

Then came a full-scale Hunters counterattack that cut a once double-digit Tigers lead down to four by the end of the third quarter (73-69).

The Hunters actually took a six-point lead of their own midway through the fourth after they were able to hold the Tigers scoreless for nearly five minutes to start off the quarter.

The lead proved short-lived with Tien leading the Tigers pack comeback in a seesaw affair during the latter half of the fourth.

Three different Dacin players scored 20 or more points in the game, headed by Tien's game-high 24 with Wang and Chang Chih-fong also scoring more than 20.

As for the Hunters, an evenly balanced attack that saw five different players manage double-digit scores, including double-double efforts by Sanders (20 points and 15 rebounds) and forward Lee Chi-yi (19 points and eleven rebounds), was enough to keep their three-game winning streak intact.

Antelopes 83, Dinos 91

A late-game rush by the Yulon Dinos helped them overcome a sluggish third quarter to down the Antelopes 91-83 in Friday's other contest, upping the top-ranked Dinos' lead over the second-placed Taiwan Beer to a full game in the latest standings.

Solid outings from the deep Dinos bench was the difference in the game as the reserves accounted for one-third of the Dinos' total offense (compared to the Antelopes' 13 percent), led by veteran center Wei Yong-tai's seven, all in the game-deciding fourth, to secure the victory.

The defending champs were seven better than the Antelopes after the first quarter of play with all-star center Tseng Wen-ding doing the damage inside against a shorthanded Antelopes interior defense.

But what was a ten-point, half-time cushion for the Dinos after a decent second quarter suddenly vanished in the third quarter as the Antelopes erupted for 29 points while holding the Dinos to just 17 to lead by a deuce heading into the final quarter.

That was the extent that the Antelopes were able keep pace with the Dinos as they simply ran out of gas down the home stretch, losing by eight in a bitter defeat.

Six different players managed double-digit scores for the Dinos with Chen "Airman" Hsin-an's team-high 16 leading the way.

The Antelopes' Delvin Thomas continued his recent offensive surge with 24 points and ten boards, his fourth straight double-double outing since the Lunar New Year break.
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