Hsu Hao-cheng's clutch drive to the basket for two points with 1.4 seconds remaining in regulation forced an 84-84 tie for Taiwan Beer before they went on to beat the ETTV Antelopes 98-91 in overtime at the Miaoli County Sports Complex on Friday evening.
The beer crew overcame a four-point deficit with approximately a minute left in the game thanks to a huge three-pointer by Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh that brought his team within a point of the Antelopes with 44 seconds left.
After the two teams traded scores, Yang Yu-ming actually had a chance to seal the win for the Antelopes with two free throw opportunities in the closing seconds.
PHOTO: LI HSIN-HUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
But the Antelopes guard only managed to hit one of two from the charity stripe, putting his team ahead by two instead of three and leaving the door open for Taiwan Beer to erase the deficit at the end.
The contest began with the beer crew enjoying a fast start, racking up 19 points for a 19-16 lead after the first quarter.
Then came an evenly fought second quarter in which the Antelopes relied on a low-post attack by big men Delvin Thomas and Wu Dai-hao, also known as the twin towers, to trail Taiwan Beer by one in a 34-33 halftime score.
Luo "The Natural" Hsin-liang and Wu Chih-yuan would help up the beer crew's lead to as many as eight with a pair of long-range 3-pointers early in the third quarter, but the Antelopes answered with Cheng Ren-wei's four 3-pointers to keep the Taiwan Beer lead at three.
The twin towers combined for 15 points, mostly from inside the paint, to give the Antelopes the lead midway through the fourth.
But they failed to put Taiwan Beer away, which ultimately led to a late-game rally by the men in green.
Five different players scored in double digits for Taiwan Beer, led by the Beast's 29. Despite his 10 turnovers in the game, the premier scoring threat in the league made the big shots when it counted most.
As for the Antelopes, two-time Player of the Week winner Thomas led with a game-high 36 points and 14 rebounds.
With the win, Taiwan Beer became the third team to qualify for the upcoming playoffs, while the loss by the Antelopes dimmed their postseason chances as they trail the fourth-placed Dacin Tigers by one-and-a-half games in the standings with three games remaining for either team.
Dinos 104, Eagles 95
The Yulon Dinos avenged an earlier loss to the last-place Azio Eagles with a 104-95 trouncing of the Eagles in Miaoli on Friday, making the homecoming for skipper Lee Yun-kuan a very memorable one.
The Miaoli native, who last set foot on a basketball floor in his home town more than 25 years ago in a high school uniform, made his fans proud as his team hammered the Eagles in a tremendous third quarter to give the Dinos a 12-point lead en route to the win.
Switching to a zone defense by the Dinos to shut down the Eagles attack during the third quarter was crucial for the defending champs as they sagged in to take away the easy buckets by the Eagles.
Their incredible 12-for-22 shooting from behind the three-point line was another factor that made the game extremely difficult on the Azio defense.
Seven different Dinos players scored in double figures on the night, with all-star center Tseng Wen-ding's 18 leading the way.
Even though three different Eagles players broke the 20-point scoring plateau in the game, including center Jien Jia-hong's game-high 23, it was not nearly enough to nail down a win for coach Hsu Jin-tseh, whose troops fought the Dinos hard for three of the four quarters.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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