Jonathan Sanders recorded another double-20 performance to propel the dmedia Numen to victory in the Super Basketball League on Sunday -- a 82-68 triumph over second-placed Taiwan Beer.
American Sanders, who took home the Most Valuable Player trophy for the month of January, continued his dominance at the Taipei County Sports Complex on Sunday by racking up 33 points and 27 rebounds for his sixth double-20 effort of the season.
The showdown between the No. 2 and No. 3 team in the league was close early on, with both squads playing rather conservatively in a low-scoring 18-18 first quarter.
A pair of long threes by the Numen's Lin Guan-luen against his former team sparked an 11-4 run for dmedia and they led by a half-dozen at the half, 39-33.
The turning point in the game came during the third quarter, in which the Numen outscored the beer crew 26-12 thanks to an incredible 19-point scoring spree by Sanders.
Dmedia led by as many as 22 points early in the fourth, before Taiwan Beer turned it up a notch and rallied to within nine with less than 1 minute remaining.
That was as close as the men in green got, as the Numen held their ground late in the game to preserve the win.
The Numen not only extended their winning streak to three, but also pulled within a half-game of Taiwan Beer in the standings. With the top three teams in the league separated by less than two games in the standings, the hunt for the regular season title will undoubtedly heat up.
Dinos 87, Bank of Taiwan 77
The Yulon Dinos bounced back nicely from a pair of losses with an 87-77 win over the Bank of Taiwan to reclaim sole possession of top spot in the standings on Sunday.
But it did not come easy for the league-leaders, as the bankers showed an uncanny resilience by overcoming deficits as large as 19 points in the second half to tie the game up at 74-all with 4 minutes left to play. However, they suffered another late-game collapse and lost by 10.
Rising to the occasion for the Dinos was veteran guard Chen Chih-chung, who more than made up for the absence of Tseng Wen-ding and Lee Chi-yi by scoring a career-high 37 points on the night.
Also starring for Yulon was Chen "Airman" Hsin-an, who chipped in 22 points and eleven boards for his fifth double-double performance in six games.
For the bankers, it was another case of "close, but no cigar" as they squandered their third-straight winning opportunity.
Tigers 60, Leopards 55
Behind consecutive three-pointers by guard Wang Chih-chuin on a game-high 20-point night, the Dacin Tigers controlled the fourth quarter en route to a 60-55 win over the Taiwan Mobile Leopards to end the weekend on a high note.
With top scorer Tien Lei out indefinitely as a result of a thumb injury and shooters Chen Tzu-wei and Lin Yi-hui combining for just 1-for-11 from behind the three-point line, the Tigers needed someone to pick up the scoring slack and assume the leadership role in the team.
And Wang did just that by nailing four threes to secure victory.
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