Su Hsiang-yi and Wu Yong-ren’s combined 33 points and 10 assists helped the Taiwan Mobile Leopards upend the Dacin Tigers 82-70 at the National Yilan University Gymnasium in Yilan yesterday afternoon.
The backcourt tandem for the Leopards played near-flawless ball for the entire game, highlighted by an outstanding 10 to three assists-to-turnover ratio to give their team a much needed win over worthy opponents.
“It was a big win for me especially since it’s against my old team,” Su said after the game.
This is the first time in eight seasons that he is not in a Dacin uniform. His absence represented a 32-point swing for the Cats, who missed a chance to win their fourth straight with a sub-par showing.
Eight uncharacteristic turnovers by the Tigers in a sloppy first quarter set them back by three against a pumped-up Leopards squad.
Even though the Tigers would regain their poise to finish the half without losing any more ground, it was enough to give the Leopards the necessary confidence to jumpstart what ended up being an 18-13 run in the third quarter to pave the winning way for them.
Taiwan Mobile led by as many as 16 points midway through the fourth, before the Tigers rallied to pull within eight.
That was as close as they got as the Leopards made most of the free throws against the Tigers’ attempts to stop the clock in the closing minutes to eventually win by a dozen.
Four different Leopard players scored in double-digits, with Wu leading the pack with 17.
As for the Tigers, Tien Lei led all scorers with 20. However, he also committed four turnovers in the process. Keith Gayden’s six also added to the Tigers’ turnover total, which brought some serious concern for coach Chiou Da-tsung.
PURE YOUTH 89, KINMEN 53
Pure Youth Construction won their second straight by a landslide in as many days, humbling Kinmen Kaoliang 89-53 in the second game yesterday, to salvage a 2-1 mark in the three-game weekend.
Rashad Jones-Jennings put up his second 20-20 performance of the weekend by racking up 23 points and 25 rebounds, 14 of which came off the offensive glass for a new league record in -offensive rebounds in a single game.
Kinmen Kaoliang managed to play only one good quarter of basketball after a physically draining match against the Yulon Luxgens the night before that ended in a bitter loss, allowing the Builders to outscore them by a whopping 45-18 over the next two quarters to put the game out of reach.
Poor execution of their game plan to contain Jones-Jennings led to a shocking 63-35 rebound differential, which ultimately cost Kinmen Kaoliang the game as they fell to a dismal 1-6 mark.
TAIWAN BEER 77, LUXGENS 52
A 6-0 run by Taiwan Beer early in the fourth broke open an otherwise fairly close game as the Brew Crew went on to defeat the Yulon Luxgens 77-52 in the weekend finale last night.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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