Taiwan Beer took a double-digit lead with under three minutes remaining and held on for dear life to defeat the Yulon Luxgens 82-79 at the Taipei Municipal Gymnasium on Saturday.
The victory not only avenged a tough loss to the club last weekend, but also marked the Beer crew’s first win against the Luxgens in three tries.
“We knew no lead is big enough against them [the Luxgens] and we almost proved it again,” Taiwan Beer head coach Yen Jia-hua said after watching his team allow the Luxgens a 13-4 run that made it too close for comfort.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
But Lin “the Beast” Chih-jeh hit one of two free throws with three seconds left to go up by three and that’s how it ended.
The rematch of last year’s championship finals saw the Beer crew jump to a quick 7-2 start, with Ho Sho-cheng and Chen Shih-nian sinking a pair of threes to greet the three-time champs.
Taiwan Beer were up by as many as 11 midway through the first quarter, before the Luxgens answered with a 7-2 run to close out the quarter down 15-21.
The Luxgens reduced Taiwan Beer’s lead further with a solid second quarter and eventually fell within three before several turnovers in the fourth gave the defending champs a chance to reclaim their third double-digit lead of the night, setting the stage for the late-game drama.
“Having to play a game last night really took a lot out of us, and in a close game like this, it was the difference,” Yulon skipper Chang Hsueh-lei said after the game, referring to a physical win that they had pulled off against the Dacin Tigers the night before.
TIGERS 92, LEOPARDS 76
The Dacin Tigers bounced back from a tough loss to the Luxgens on Friday with a convincing 92-76 win over the Taiwan Mobile Leopards on Saturday that featured at least a half-dozen vicious dunks by Byron Allen and Tien Lei.
The win, coupled with a Yulon loss to Taiwan Beer, conveniently dealt the top spot in the standings back to the cats as they rooted for the brew crew on a rare occasion.
As for the Leopards, who lost to last-place Bank of Taiwan on Friday, Saturday’s loss added insult to injury as they dropped four in row to end up with a 4-10 record near the midseason mark.
PURE YOUTH 94, KINMEN LIQUOR 83
Pure Youth Construction avenged an embarrassing loss to Kinmen Liquor last week with a 94-83 win on Saturday afternoon thanks to a great effort by center Jien Jia-hong.
The red-hot center for the builders — who had averaged over 20 points per game in the three contests this month — simply dominated a smaller and weaker Kinmen Liquor interior defense by connecting for 15 first-half points en route to a game-high 25.
Kinmen Liquor managed to hang in the game, despite trailing by as many as 15 points in the second half, with a slew of perimeter jumpers that pulled it within three in the closing minutes of the game.
But that was as far as it got as Pure Youth went on a 15-7 run in the final two minutes to secure the win.
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