Print

Mail

wiki links

SBL: Dinos survive late rally to remain unbeaten

Chen "Airman" Hsin-an played the entire game with 27 points and Lee Chih-yi found his shooting touch to score 17 in his best game of the season to help the Yulon Dinos defeat the dmedia Numen 84-78 at the National Taiwan College of Physical Education in Taichung on Friday night.

Chen, already a two-time Player of the Week winner this season, and Lee, the offseason acquisition from the Taiwan Mobile Leopards (formerly the Videoland Hunters), proved too much for the Numen to handle as the Dinos won their eighth straight to remain undefeated at 8-0.

"We knew it would be a tough game, so the late-game run by them [Numen] did not come as a surprise to us," Chen said, referring to the four-quarter run by the Numen that brought them from 14 points down to take a brief 71-70 lead with under three minutes remaining in the contest.

But the victory ultimately belonged to the Dinos as they induced the fifth foul on Numen's Jonathan Sanders that sent the top dmedia offensive threat to the bench and end any realistic chance of a late-game upset.

The primetime showdown between the top two squads in the league had the Dinos jumping to an early 11-5 lead on a run of quick buckets by the Airman and point guard Chen Chih-chung, before they closed out the quarter with a 24-16 advantage.

Back-to-back three's by the Numen's Lin Guan-luen and Wu Jia-long would cut the deficit to three, but the Dinos answered with an 11-1 run late in the quarter to build a 44-31 lead at halftime.

An evenly played third with Lee and Dinos center Tseng Wen-ding combining for ten low-post points, while the Numen relied on the inside presence of Sanders and the outside shooting of Ouyang Jing-hen, kept the Dinos lead at double-digits until the Numen decided to go with a full-court press early in the fourth to force several turnovers. They converted them into easy points to erase the deficit.

While the rally gave the Dinos a scare, it did not affect the outcome of the game as the three-time champions promptly upped their game to run away with the win.

Tigers 92, Bank of Taiwan 68

The Dacin Tigers needed a strong fourth quarter to overcome Bank of Taiwan, breaking a 62-54 game wide open with a 30-point fourth-quarter to win it 92-68 earlier on Friday.

Su Yi-jeh's highly anticipated return was a huge success as the Tigers' speedy guard made his mark on the court after a near eight-month break to rehabilitate an injured elbow. He racked up 16 points, eight assists and four steals to kick off the weekend's play in flying fashion for the Cats.

Veteran guard Chang Chih-fong contributed 29 points, giving the Dacin team captain 23.3 points per game over the last three games. Top scorer Tien Lei sat out the game to nurse a sore left knee.

Bank of Taiwan never seemed comfortable in offense, even when the score was close. Other than Chuang Hsiao-wen's long-range three that tied the game momentarily at 46-46 early in the third, the game was all-Tigers.
This story has been viewed 972 times.