James Mao's clutch drive to the hoop with the clock winding down proved to be the game-winner for Pure Youth Construction as they stunned the Yulon Dinos 116-113 in overtime on Friday at the Taipei County Sports Complex.
A slew of monstrous three-pointers by the young builders set the tone early in the game, with the Dinos finding themselves in unfamiliar territory, trailing 27-31 after the first quarter.
But the three-time champs tightened their defensive effort in the second quarter by holding Pure Youth to 19 points to make it a two-point game (48-50) at the half before skipping ahead with a strong second half to eventually lead 102-92 with a minute remaining in what seemed another certain victory.
That was when the builders fought back by forcing a pair of turnovers on an incredible 10-0 run over the final minute to send the game into extra sessions.
Dinos veteran guard Chen Chih-chung's fastbreak basket with 13.6 seconds remaining in overtime put his team ahead 113-112 but Mao stole the show by delivering the game-winner to seal the win.
Five Pure Youth players managed double-digit scores, led by Hong Chih-shan's 11-for-17 shooting from behind the three-point line for a game-high 35 points. Jien Jia-hong chipped in 27 points and dished out five assists.
Taiwan Beer 80, Tigers 70
Ho Sho-cheng saved his best for last by pouring in ten of his game-high 20 points in the final quarter to lead Taiwan Beer past the Dacin Tigers 80-70 in the early game on Friday to help tie a team record for longest win streak with five straight victories.
The versatile swingman who can play three of the five positions on the floor celebrated the return of head coach Yen Jia-hua from a ten-game suspension by nailing a key three-pointer at the 1:45 mark to give the beer crew a ten-point margin en route to the big win.
Neither team clicked offensively in a low-scoring first quarter that saw Taiwan Beer holding a 12-11 lead before skipper Yen opted to attack the Tigers inside the paint with Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh and Wu Dai-hao muscling their way to eight straight points to close out the first half with a 33-27 advantage.
Taiwan Beer opened the second half with a 9-2 run to take a double-digit lead before the Tigers showed unusual tenacity by putting together a 15-2 run of their own, sparked by an eight-point burst by Chen Tzu-wei late in the third to fall within one of the beer men (51-52) heading into the fourth.
That was as close as they got as Ho took over to secure the win.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but