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SBL: Dinos edge Dacin, stay unbeaten

Yao Chun-chieh of the Dacin Tigers, center, tries to defend as Chen Chih-chung of the Yulon Dinos, right, attempts a lay-up during their SBL game at the National Taiwan College of Physical Education in Taichung on Sunday. PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG, TAIPEI TIMES

The Yulon Dinos continued their dominance over the rest of the league by edging past the Dacin Tigers 83-78 at the National Taiwan College of Physical Education in Taichung on Sunday to remain unbeaten at 10-0 for the season.

Chen "Airman" Hsin-an once again played the savior's role in the final quarter, as he has done several times this year, by scoring 12 of the Dinos' 24 points in the quarter to turn back a fierce Tigers rally and preserve the victory.

Trailing 65-76 with under two minutes remaining in the contest, the Tigers got a huge break from an unsportsmanlike conduct call on the Dinos' Lee Hsueh-lin that gave Dacin the chance to complete a five-point play, which they did to cut the deficit down to six.

The Dinos would turn the ball over on their next two ensuing possessions to allow the Tigers to score another five and fall get to within a point (78-79) with 14 seconds left.

But that was as close as they got as the Dinos calmly sank all four of their free throws in the final seconds to seal the win.

"That one was too close for comfort," Yulon Dinos head coach Lee Yun-kuan said after the game.

His team had come close to blowing their lead when tempers flared toward the end of the game.

"We have to control our emotions better," he said.

The Dinos opened the game with a long three from the Airman which set the tone early and led 23-13 at the end of the first quarter after reserve forward Lu Cheng-rue came off the bench with eight quick points.

The Tigers would cut the deficit to five midway through the second quarter on the strength of guard Yang Yu-ming's outside shooting, only to find themselves down by eleven at halftime, with Lee shooting five points on a 9-3 run late in the quarter.

The shuffling match inside the paint by the frontcourt of both teams favored the Tigers in a very physical third quarter that shaved the Dinos lead to six heading into the final quarter.

That was when Chen decided to take matters into his own hands by connecting for eight straight points to reclaim a double-digit lead for his team, setting the scene for the dramatic finish.

Leopards 73, Numen 67

An outstanding fourth quarter by the Taiwan Mobile Leopards in which they outscored the dmedia Numen 23-12 turned a five-point deficit into a six-point win earlier on Sunday.

The win gave the previously flat Leopards a perfect 2-0 record for the weekend as they inched up the standings with a 4-5 record, while the loss by the Numen was their third straight after wining four in a row to take sole possession of second-place in the standings.

Down 50-55 after three quarters of play, the Leopards managed to play their best quarter of basketball yet, with point guard Wu Yong-ren leading the charge by netting 12 of his game-high 21 points in the final quarter to run away with the impressive win.

The Leopards' patented 2-3 zone defense also kept a potent dmedia attack that had averaged over 85 points per game to a meagerly 67.

Taiwan Beer 88, Pure Youth 71

Taiwan Beer feasted off Pure Youth Construction in an 88-71 blowout win to close out the year with a perfect 2-0 week.

Power forward Wu Dai-hao played his best game in a green uniform by outscoring and outrebounding his Pure Youth counterparts with 28 points and 14 boards that brought a big smile to skipper Yen Jia-hua's face.
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