Placing five different players in double-digit scoring, Bank of Taiwan accomplished the impossible by downing Kinmen Liquor 100-96 at the Taipei County Gymnasium in Sinjhuang yesterday afternoon.
It was only the fourth win by the Bankers in a somewhat ill-fortuned season that saw their top scorer Hsu Chih-chiang suffer from a season-ending knee injury just two weeks into the season.
Chen Hsuen-shiang led Bank of Taiwan with a team-high 21 points while Doug Creighton of the US chipped in 18 to help the Bankers win for the first time in nearly a month.
The Bankers hung tough against Kinmen Liquor in the early going by matching the Distillers with 26 points in a high-scoring first quarter.
They would continue their success in the second quarter with Chen leading the attack to enjoy a 50-48 lead at the half.
Neither team showed signs of slowing down with the offenses gaining the upper hand against the opposing defences and the Bankers increased their lead by one after three quarters of play.
With the game on the line, they would make two crucial defensive stops against Kinmen Liquor in the final minute of the game to keep their lead for good.
The win by Bank of Taiwan dampened an otherwise amazing performance by Kinmen Liquor forward Shawn “the Hawk” Hawkins who all but wrapped up the regular-season scoring title by netting a season-high 44 points on the night.
Tigers 69, Leopards 83
The Dacin Tigers dropped their second straight game in as many days, losing big to the Taiwan Mobile Leopards 83-69 at the Taipei County Gymnasium last night.
It was a meaningless loss for the Tigers as they had already clinched the top-seed berth in the upcoming postseason.
The loss, however, still drew some concerns from Dacin skipper Chiou Da-chung whose team suffered back-to-back losses for only the second time this year.
“It [the loss] exposed some of the weaknesses we still have in our game,” Chiou said after the game.
His Tigers will play their regular season finale Sunday against Taiwan Beer.
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