The Dacin Tigers made a strong statement last night by breaking the century mark in a 101-81 win over the Yulon Luxgens at the Taipei County Gymnasium in Sinjhuang yesterday afternoon.
Byron Allen erupted for 25 points to tie a season-high while Chang Chih-fong added another 20 to help the Cats take down the Luxgens in the battle between the top two squads in the league.
The Tigers greeted their longtime rivals with a superior first quarter in which they poured in 25 points compared with the Luxgens’ 19 to start off the game.
They would add to their lead by three in a high-scoring second quarter that ended with the Tigers ahead 53-44.
That was as close as the Luxgens got as they fell further behind in the second half despite an outstanding effort by guard Chou Shih-yuan who set a new season-high scoring of 41 points to lead all scorers on the night.
TAIWAN BEER 82, LEOPARDS 69
Riding a 25-point effort by forward Yang Jing-min, Taiwan Beer easily cruised past the Taiwan Mobile Leopards 82-69 last night to tie the Luxgens for the No. 2 spot in the SBL standings with an identical 16-11 record.
The Brew Crew effectively shut down the Leopards’ attack by holding their opponents to under 17 points in each of the first three quarters to enjoy a commanding 61-39 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Even though the Leopards would pour in 30 points in the final quarter with Alexus Foyle leading the way, it was too little too late as they dropped this one by 13 to avoid a blowout loss.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set