Taiwan Beer nearly blew a 10-point lead with less than five minutes remaining to narrowly edge past the top-ranked Dacin Tigers in an 83-81 win at the Taipei County Gymnasium in Sinjhuang last night.
With time running out, Chen Tzu-wei’s potential game-turning three-point attempt bounced off the front of the rim to end the Tigers’ last hope of what would have been a valiant comeback. The Taiwan Beer bench swarmed onto the court in joy.
The Brew Crew also breathed a collective sigh of relief because they knew that a successful last-second comeback by the Tigers would have been devastating to their morale with the postseason right around the corner.
The win not only gave the men in green a 3-2 advantage in the five regular season contests between the two squads, but it also ended their regular season on a high note as they prepare for a tough best-of-five series against the Tigers in the first round of postseason playoffs on Friday.
Ho Sho-cheng led all scorers with 18 points for Taiwan Beer, shaking off some off-court troubles with his well-publicized relationship with celebrity singer Chang “A-Mei” Hui-mei.
“I’d like to keep the focus on the game for now,” he was quoted as saying in the local press earlier this week when asked about his longstanding relationship with A-Mei, a statement he promptly backed up with a solid showing on the night.
Also playing a star role for Taiwan Beer was reserve guard Pan Ren-deh, who converted four of six from behind the three-point arc in a 14-point effort that proved instrumental as the Brew Crew outfought the defending champs.
Contrary to what most would have predicted, Dacin did not seem too devastated by the loss as coach Chiou Da-tsong opted to rest most of his starters for at least half of the game to give his bench some playing time. While not risking injuries to his starters may have been the reason, a loss to their arch-rivals may sap morale ahead of the playoffs.
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