Holding a potent Taiwan Beer offense to six measly points in the fourth quarter, the Dacin Tigers broke away from an otherwise close battle to win Game 2 of the playoff series 84-70 at the Taipei County Gymnasium in Sinjhuang last night.
The win not only evened the best-of-five series at one game apiece, but also breathed new signs of life into the defending champs, who looked a bit intimidated the night before in a series-opening loss to the Brew Crew.
Taiwan Beer began Round 2 in high gear with a quick 11-4 lead early in the first.
However, the Tigers would answer with an 14-0 run of their own to actually lead it 23-33 after the first quarter of play. Neither club managed to pull away in an evenly fought second quarter that led to a 40-all tie at the half with Lin “the Beast” Chih-jeh leading the men in the green uniform with 11 first-half points and Byron Allen doing the same for the cats.
Dacin would skid ahead by as many as a dozen in the third quarter with Lin Yi-hui and Yueh Ying-li nailing several jumpers from the perimeter before the Brew Crew answered with a 7-2 run late in the quarter, highlighted by Chen Shih-nian’s buzzer-beating three to keep the Tigers’ lead at a reasonable six (70-64).
The six-point advantage proved sufficient for the Cats as they upped their defensive effort a notch by keeping the Beast scoreless for the entire second half, while Tien Lei and Chang Chih-fong picked up the scoring slack to run away with a convincing win the end.
Four different players scored in double-digits for the victorious Tigers, led by Allen and Tien’s game-high 17 points each.
The two squads will do battle once more this afternoon at 5pm in the all-important Game 3, where the winner will be one victory away from clinching the series.
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