China's Shandong beat the Dacin Tigers 78-73 last night in the opening game of the third day of the Straits Cup basketball tournament in Miaoli. Jiangsu won the second game against Taiwan Beer 78-71.
Shandong took a 5-0 lead after three minutes in the first quarter before Dacin scored on two putbacks, the last by Yao Jun-jay. A jumper by Yao gave Dacin a 8-5 lead before Shandong evened the score on a 3-pointer. Dacin took an 17-10 lead with two minutes left on a clutch 3-pointer.
In the second quarter, Dacin's Lin Yi-hui hit a three to give his team a 24-18 lead. Yao drained another jumper to bump the lead to 26-18 with five minutes left before Shandong's Pan Jen-der drove to the hoop to make it 26-20. A three by Shandong's Li Lin trimmed the Dacin lead to 33-28 and Guo Lei hit a three with a minute left to give Shandong the lead. Shandong's Hou Bing hit two free throws to give his team a 36-33 lead at halftime.
Dacin's Wang Chih-chun nailed a three to open the third quarter. Shandong's Sun Jie answered with a three of his own to put his team up 41-38 with seven minutes left, but Dacin's Lin made a shot in the lane to trim the deficit to a point. An inside drive by Dacin's Yen Jia-wei made the score 48-44 Shandong's favor with four minutes left and he scored again on the next Dacin possession. Shandong ended the quarter with an inside bucket and a 56-53 lead.
A physical game turned ugly when Shandong's Lin was hit with a technical after shoving Dacin's Chieh Chia-hung to the floor. The Tigers hit both free throws to make it 60-56 with nine minutes left. Chieh tied the score at 64 with a drive to the hoop and a free throw with 4:45 to play.
A huge three by Chieh gave Dacin the lead with three minutes left, but Shandong's Zhao Zhongwen responded with a three with two minutes left to give his team a 72-67 lead. Chieh fouled out of the game with 20 seconds left and Dacin began to see the game slip away as Shandong took a 76-70 lead.
Two free throws by Shandong's Wang finished the scoring as his team won 78-73.
Jiangsu 78, Taiwan Beer 71
Taiwan Beer's Ha Hsiao-yuan got his side off to a fast start with a basket just after the night's second game against Jiangsu began. The brewers' Wu Dai-hao scored on a drive to the hoop with 4:30 left. Ha drove and scored just before the quarter ended with Jiangsu leading 22-17.
Jiangsu's Tang Zhengdong scored on putback with six minutes left in the second quarter to make it 29-19.
Taiwan Beer's Ho Sho-jen then took over, hitting two 3-pointers to cut the Jiangsu lead to six, scoring inside on two drives and then nailing another three to give his side a three point lead as the half ended.
Ho hit a layup and Yang followed with a another to stretch the brewers' lead to eight with 4:30 left in the third quarter. Jiangsu took the lead on a three with two minutes left.
The Beast nailed the second of two threes with a minute left to help Taiwan Beer retake the lead, then hit two free throws to put them up 55-52 at the end of the quarter.
Jiangsu's Meng drained a three at four minutes to go to put his team up 66-62. Wu got hit in the nose with a deliberate elbow by Jiangsu's Guo Lei with 2:30 left. Wu was bleeding and vivbly furious as he left the court and Guo was ejected.
Jiangsu made a three with 1:30 left to take a 76-69 lead and the game ended with Jiangsu winning 78-71.
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