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Eagles steal victory from bankers in overtime game

The Azio Eagles' Jien Jia-hong blocks a shot by Bank of Taiwan's Yue Ying-li in their Super Basketball League game on Friday evening at Taipei County Stadium. The Eagles won 104-99. PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES

Play started again in the Super Basketball League on Friday evening after a two-week break for the University Basketball Association's annual tournament, with the Azio Eagles beating up on Bank of Taiwan in an 104-99 overtime win at the Taipei County Stadium in Sinjhuang.

The win marked the Eagles' fourth of the season, topping their three-win total for all of last year by a game with eight contests remaining in the season.

The Eagles overcame deficits as large as 16 points in the second half to tie the game up at 89-all in regulation and before finally prevailing in overtime.

"It was a huge win for us, especially with the way we played in the final quarter to squeeze out the win," a very pleased and relieved Azio coach Hsu Jin-tseh said after the game.

The rookie skipper took over a team that had won a total of six games in the two previous seasons, but is now on pace to win match that total in a single season.

The game began as the Eagles came out firing by nailing several mid-range jumpers to open a 22-17 lead after the first quarter before the bankers fought back with a monster 33-point second to lead by nine (50-41) at the half.

After padding their lead by five in a sloppily played third quarter by both squads, the Eagles decided to take control of the game by upping the pace with numerous fast breaks and a ball-denying defense that forced a handful of banker turnovers.

Five different Eagles players scored in double digits on the night, with speedy guard Chen Shih-jeh's 23 leading the pack.

Big man Jien Jia-hong also pitched in with 21 points, including four clutch free-throws in overtime to secure the win.

As for the bankers, four players scored in double digits in the game, with Yang Jing-min amd Chen Hsuen-shiang each racking up 25 points to account for most of the team's offense.

But the 25 turnovers by the bankers proved too much to overcome, even with a 16-point fourth-quarter lead, as they suffered their ninth straight loss to be mathematically eliminated from postseason play.

Antelopes 82, Tigers 64

The ETTV Antelopes kept their postseason hopes alive with a convincing 82-64 win over the Dacin Tigers on Friday that featured a stingy defense that held the Tigers to only 25 second-half points on the night.

The Antelopes' "twin towers" -- power forward Delvin Thomas and center Wu Dai-hao, who returned to his team after missing a season to play college ball in the US -- mowed down the Tigers interior defense at will for 43 combined points.

Other than a strong first quarter that saw the Tigers pour in 24 points against a slow-starting Antelopes defense, the game was all Antelopes from the second quarter on, as they bounced back with a 22-15 scoring differential to claim a two-point lead at the half.

The Tigers relied on forward Tien Lei and guard Chang Chih-fong's outside shooting to keep pace with the Antelopes' tenacious inside attack.

And while that strategy worked fairly well in an evenly fought third period, it completely fell apart in the decisive fourth, as the scoring tandem lost their shooting touch in a dismal 4-for-23 effort in the eventual loss.

Both Tien and Chang ended up with a game-high 23 points, but they were the only two Tigers who managed to score 10 or more points, with the rest of the team coming up far short.
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