The red-hot Videoland Hunters showed no signs of slowing down with a huge 86-81 win over Taiwan Beer at the Taipei County Stadium in Sinjhuang on Saturday evening to grab the sole possession of second place in the standings.
All-purpose forward Jonathan Sanders of the US scored a game-high 28 points and pulled down 19 rebounds -- one rebound shy of his seventh double-20 of the season -- to lift his team past the beer crew in a tough battle that went down to the wire.
Reserve forward Hong Chi-chao also poured in a season-high 24 points for the Hunters, as he and Sanders accounted for more than half of the Hunters' total offense.
PHOTO: SBL
An all-Taiwan Beer first half saw the men in the green hit eight 3-pointers to enjoy a comfortable 43-33 margin at the half.
An "unconscious" Hong then scored 13 points during the third quarter, including three 3-pointers, to help cut the Taiwan Beer lead down to a deuce by the start of the fourth quarter.
Even though Taiwan Beer would extend its lead to as many as six points with under two minutes remaining in the game, that was all they could muster as the Hunters tightened up defensively while their offense scored eight unanswered points to ice the victory.
"We really blew it in the last two minutes by not playing the kind of game that got us the lead to begin with," Taiwan Beer coach Yen Jia-hua said after the game.
The inability to shut down Sanders and Hong on Taiwan Beer's part was the difference in the game as Taiwan Beer wasted a a balanced offensive effort that saw five players score in double digits.
Antelopes 85, Eagles 78
Wu Dai-hao scored 15 points and Delvin Thomas had 13 in another huge day against the Azio Eagles on Saturday to lead the ETTV Antelopes in an 85-78 win.
The twin towers for the Antelopes capitalized on their size advantage over a smaller Azio frontcourt by outscoring and outrebounding the Eagles by a sizable margin for the win.
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