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SBL: Dinos avenge loss to Taiwan Beer in game two of series

Regaining their top-ranked form during the regular season, the Yulon Dinos avenged a series-opening loss to Taiwan Beer with a 79-68 win in Game Two of the Championship Series at the Taipei County Sports Complex Saturday evening to force a 1-1 tie in the best-of-seven showdown.

The highly anticipated showdown between the top two squads in the league that was all-Taiwan Beer in a Game-One blowout last Friday saw the Dinos swaying the momentum back their way by holding a potent Taiwan Beer offense to just 29 first-half points before they went on to take the series-equalizer with relative ease.

Starring for the victorious Dinos were backcourt tandem Chen Chih-chung and prized free agent Yang Tseh-yi (of the Taiwan Mobile Leopards and formerly the Videoland Hunters), whose 41 combined points, the former with 21, and the latter with 20, accounted for over half of their team’s total offense.

Also contributing in a great deal, despite a less-than-usual point production of only 12 (compared to his league-best scoring average of 23.3 points per game during the regular season) on the night was versatile Dinos forward Chen “Airman” Hsin-an who challenged the Taiwan Beer defense on several occasions by taking the ball strong to the hoop to free up the perimeter game for Chen Chih-chung and Yang.

“We had to show them [Taiwan Beer] what we were capable of doing by keeping our mind in the game,” the Airman explained how his team managed to overcome a forgettable performance in Game One with an outstanding showing in Game Two to run away with the win.

Led by eight quick points from Yang, the Dinos opened the game with an 18-13 advantage after the initial quarter and upped it by two with a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Lee Hsueh-lin in the final second to close out the half with a 36-29 lead.

Picking up where they left off, Yulon would open the second half with an awesome 21-8 run in the first five minutes to build a 57-37 cushion before the beer crew finally went on a 9-2 run of their own to finish a dramatic third trailing 46-59.

They would cut the Dinos lead to under 10 points with a big fourth-quarter push and get within seven points of the Dinos with just over a minute remaining in the game.

But that was as close as Taiwan Beer got as the Dinos forced a critical turnover on defense and broke loose for a decisive score on the other end of the floor to clinch the win in the end.

Four different Dinos players scored in double-digits while the beer crew was able to place three members with 10 or more points in the game.

Failure to get the ball to Lin “the Beast” Chih-jeh on the part of the beer crew probably cost them the game as the hero in game one who rang up 29 on Friday only managed to score 13 against the tough defensive coverage by Yang, well below his playoff average of 25.8 points per game in this postseason.
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