Tying his season-high 38 points, including 23 in the decisive fourth, Shawn “the Hawk” Hawkins championed Kinmen Liquor past the Yulon Luxgens 98-86 at the Hsinchu Municipal Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.
What began as an evenly fought match between the two premier squads in the league — with the Luxgens enjoying a narrow 66-64 lead through the third — turned into a one-man show for the Hawk as the Distillers poured in 34 in the final quarter to chase the three-time champs off the court.
An unsportsmanlike conduct call against Luxgen forward Lee Chih-yi in the early minutes of the fourth following a questionable call by the officials led to a seven-point swing in favor of Kinmen Liquor that gave the Distillers a needed boost.
After the game, Yulon skipper Chang Hsueh-lei supported the ref’s decision to eject Lee, but he also urged officials to improve the quality of their officiating after his players have recently fallen victim to several questionable calls.
The loss marked an unprecedented third straight for the three-time champs, despite a great all-around game by center Tseng Wen-ding, who was two assists shy of a triple-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. The slump raises questions about their decision to stay with an all-Taiwanese lineup for the entire season instead of hiring a foreign player like the rest of the league.
Taiwan Beer 84, Pure Youth 76
Red-hot Taiwan Beer continued their string of successes with a win over Pure Youth Construction to extend their winning streak to four, thanks to a great outing from forward Yang Jing-min. Yang’s game-high 22 points with six rebounds and three steals paved the way to victory for the Brew Crew.
Taiwan Beer showed off their tremendous bench depth after losing top scorer Lin “the Beast” Chih-jeh to China’s Chinese Basketball Association for the year. Eight Beer players clocked in at least 12 minutes to keep pace with the Young Builders.
The Beer Crew took advantage of a strong third quarter to break an otherwise evenly fought battle wide open, with leads as large as 13 points in the fourth quarter.
Even though Pure Youth reduced the deficit to as few as six points in the closing minutes of the contest, Taiwan Beer knocked down key shots to keep the Builders’ rally at bay.
Tigers 88, Leopards 76
Ouyang Jing-hen’s return to action was a big boost for the Taiwan Mobile Leopards, as the top scorer for the Leopards netted a game-high 21 for his team. It wasn’t nearly enough to beat the Dacin Tigers, however, as they fell short by a dozen to drop their second straight and sixth of the last seven matches.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
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