Chang Bo-sheng played the game of his life by downing 10 three-pointers on a 38-point night to lead the previously 1-13 Bank of Taiwan past the Taiwan Mobile Leopards in a 78-69 win at the Taipei County Sports Complex on Saturday evening.
The bankers' second-year guard who had begun the season as a reserve and been promoted to the starting role only two weeks ago more than quintupled his usual point production of seven-plus per game with 18 in the first quarter alone, en route to a career night.
"He [Chang] would've broken the all-time record [for single-game scoring of 52 set by the Yulon Dinos' Chen Hsin-an in 2004] if the Leopards hadn't put on a blanket-like coverage to hold him scoreless in the fourth quarter," several bankers' players shouted from the locker room after the game.
The bankers proved that their win over the Leopards in their last meeting was no fluke by opening the game with back-to-back three's from Chang before taking a comfortable 26-10 lead after the first quarter.
While the offense cooled off slightly for the bankers with only 18 in the second quarter, the defense more than picked up the slack by holding the Leopards to eight points to make it a 44-18 game at the half.
The18 points scored by Taiwan Mobile in the first half tied them with the 2003-2004 Bank of Taiwan squad for fewest points in a half by a team.
After an emotional speech by Leopards skipper Cheng Chih-long that fired up his troops, Taiwan Mobile began to play like the team that had snapped the top-ranked Yulon Dinos' winning streak at 12 with 28 third-quarter points, and eventually got within five of the bankers at 69-74 with under two minutes remaining in the game.
But that was as close as they got as the bankers held their grounds in the final two minutes to keep the Leopards from pulling off the biggest comeback in league history.
Taiwan Beer 77, Tigers 67
Taiwan Beer made it four in a row by topping the Dacin Tigers in a 77-67 final on Saturday night to keep pace with the first-place Dinos who also won in their game against Pure Youth earlier on the day.
Even though the Tigers were able put up a fight this time with guards Wang Chih-chuin and Chang Chih-fong back in the lineup, compared to their lopsided 64-92 defeat at the hands of Taiwan Beer on Jan. 5 with four of their regular starters out with injuries, the outcome of the game was never in doubt as Taiwan Beer had simply too many weapons for the Tigers to defend against.
The balanced attack that featured four players with 12 or more points on the night saw Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh leading the way with 18 while inside force Wu Dai-hao added 16 to make the task extremely difficult for the Dacin interior defense.
Taiwan Beer's dominance inside the paint was further evident in its near-60 percent shooting (24-for-42) for two-point shots, most of which were put up from close range.
Dinos 96, Pure Youth 88
The Yulon Dinos needed a strong finish from "Mr. Fourth Quarter" Chen Hsin-an to turn back a vicious rally by Pure Youth Constructions in a narrow 96-88 victory on Saturday, snapping a two-game losing skid.
The three-time Player of the Week winner rose to the occasion one more time for the Dinos by converting all three shots on the Yulon's final three possessions to keep the league-leaders from an unprecedented third straight loss.
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