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Fast start helps Taiwan Beer take 3-2 SBL title series lead over Dacin Tigers

Players for Taiwan Beer celebrate in Taipei City on Sunday after beating the Dacin Tigers 78-70 at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium in Game 5 of the Super Basketball League finals. PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Scoring early and often, Taiwan Beer outscored the Dacin Tigers 26-9 in the opening quarter and managed to hold off a tenacious rally by the Tigers in the final quarter for a 78-70 win in Game 5 of the Super Basketball League (SBL) Finals at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Sunday night.

The win was the beer crew's third in the best-of-seven series and leaves them just one victory shy of their first championship title.

"The key to our win tonight was a solid defense during the first half that put them [the Tigers] in a hole in a hurry," Taiwan Beer coach Yen Jia-hua said after the game.

Stellar performances by Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh, with 14 of Taiwan Beer's 26 first-quarter points on a 28-point night, and Chen Shih-nian, whose four clutch free throws late in the game gave his team a commanding eight-point lead, also were crucial for the victorious beer crew that never trailed in the game.

The contest began with Taiwan Beer taking charge of the game early by stringing together a stunning 16-0 run in the first few minutes.

The score read 19-3 before the Tigers managed to come up with a 6-0 run to cut the Taiwan Beer lead to 10 points.

The beer crew then answered with a 7-0 run to close out an intense first quarter with a 26-9 lead.

Another 7-0 run by Taiwan Beer to start the second quarter put the Tigers further back at 33-9, forcing Dacin to call a timeout.

The timeout seemed to help as the Tigers outscored the beer crew 19-9 to finish out the first half down 42-28.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Tien Lei that sparked a 14-5 run early in the third would cut the Taiwan Beer lead to as few as five, but Ho Sho-cheng and Luo Hsin-liang made sure the beer crew would increase its cushion to 10 with six unanswered points to end the third quarter.

The Tigers then went with their patented 3-point attack in an attempt to fight back and it took them to within four of the beer crew before four straight free throws by Chen iced the game for the brew crew in the final minute.

Games 6 will be played on Saturday and Game 7 will be held on Sunday if necessary.
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