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.
The series will move to Hualien tomorrow.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later