`The Beast' holds his nerve to secure win

Lin `'the Beast'' Chih-jeh, left, evades the defense of Bank of Taiwan's Yang Jing-min during Taiwan Beer's 87-86 win at Sinjhuang on Friday night. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SBL

Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh's pair of clutch free throws with 12 seconds remaining in the game turned a one-point deficit into a one-point win for Taiwan Beer as they edged past Bank of Taiwan in an 87-86 thriller at the Taipei County Stadium in Sinjhuang on Friday evening to avoid what would have been an embarrassing loss.

The leading scorer for the beer crew shook off the shadow cast by his two key free throw misses in his team's narrow loss to the Yulon Dinos last Sunday, and calmly drained the game-clincher.

Even though his overall 7-for-13 shooting from behind the charity stripe was not exactly the kind of performance to write home about, he still stuck the shots that counted most with the game on the line.

The contest began with the bankers showing no signs of their eleven-game losing slump as they led three in a 24-21 first quarter, thanks to the red-hot shooting of forward Yueh Ying-li who shot a perfect 4-for-4 in the quarter.

Yueh would carry his momentum into the second quarter against a dumbfounded Beer defense which failed to put a man on Yueh to limit the damage as he nailed four out of four to lead his squad to a 47-43 lead at the half with 22 points.

That would be all the points that Yueh scored on the night as the beer crew finally came up with a way to handle the bankers' budding star and silence him with blanket-like coverage provided by Ha Hsiao-yuan and Shang Wei-fang.

While the defense was doing its job against Yueh, the Taiwan Beer offense also awoke in the third quarter as it outscored the bankers by a 30-17 margin to take a 73-54 lead heading into the final quarter.

The nine-point lead for the beer crew would last less than a few minutes as the bankers rallied with five three-pointers to erase the deficit and actually take an 86-85 lead with a minute remaining in the game, setting the stage for the Beast's game-winners.

Three different players reached double-digits, with the Beast leading the way with a game-high 26-points, followed by perimeter threat Ho Sho-cheng's 19 and veteran point guard Luo Hsin-liang's 11.

As for the bankers, who seemed determined to finally snap their eleven-game losing streak with a gang-bustering first half, their hope for the elusive win fell a point short as forward Yang Jing-min's last-second desperation shot bounced off the rim with time running out.

Hunters 93, Tigers 78

The Videoland Hunters had little trouble taming the Tigers of Dacin with a monstrous 31-point third quarter haul that helped them pull away with a 93-78 win in Sinjhuang on Friday night.

Versatile forward Jonathan Sanders was clearly head-and-shoulders above the Tigers interior defense with 25 points and 22 rebounds (seven off the offensive glass) in his sixth double-20 outing of the season.

The Hunters opened the game with a solid first quarter that saw Sanders and fellow forward Lee Chih-yi tearing up the middle with 12 combined points to jump to a 23-17 lead.

Storming back were the Tigers, who recovered from a dismal first quarter to dominate the Hunters in an awesome second quarter to end the first half with a 43-42 advantage.

Failure to hit the long three's in the early going of the second half dug a ten-point hole for the Tigers in a hurry as the Hunters capitalized on their misses to regain a double-digit lead in the game-deciding third, making the fourth quarter a mere formality as they held on for the win.

"This is as low as I've seen this team in a long time," a disappointed Tigers coach Liu Jia-fa said after the game, referring to his team's lethargic attitude as of late which has cost Dacin three straight games.

The Hunters' 47-28 rebounding edge was just one of a slew of items that caused tremendous fury on Liu's behalf.