Taiwan Beer needed a strong third quarter in which it outscored the Yulon Dinos 23-7 to pull away with a whopping 81-64 win in Game Three of the Championship Series at the Taipei County Sports Complex on Sunday night to lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.
The beer crew bounced back in full swing following a disappointing loss to the Dinos in Game Two on Saturday with strong outings on Sunday from Yang Jing-min and Ho Sho-cheng, whose 38 combined points accounted for nearly half of their team’s point production.
It was Ho whose 18 first-half points kept the beer crew out in front with a narrow lead for the most part of the first half, and Yang, whose 12 points in the third quarter alone on a 17-point night that helped Taiwan Beer pull away in the decisive third to seal the win.
“The coach told me to just play my game and not worry about anything else,” Yang said after the game, referring to Taiwan Beer skipper Yen Jia-hua’s last-minute instructions prior to the game.
And Yang would not let Yen down as he opened the second half with a pair of long three’s to increase Taiwan Beer’s six-point halftime lead (37-31) to a double-digit one.
That was the boost that Taiwan Beer needed to break the game wide open while its defense also stepped up a notch to shut down the Dinos attack to make this one a foregone conclusion long before the final buzzer.
Three different Taiwan Beer players scored in double-digits on the night with Ho’s game-high 21 points leading the way. Team icon Lin “the Beast” Chih-jeh who had averaged over 20 points per game during this postseason did not have his usual point production with only nine on the night. But he more than made up for it by dishing out a game-high seven assists to contribute in another way.
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