A second-half surge led by Yang Jing-min’s nine points helped erase a first-half deficit to lift Taiwan Beer past Bank of Taiwan 71-62 at the Taipei Gymnasium last night.
It was a big win for the Brew Crew, not only because they avoided what would have been an embarrassing loss to the Bankers (2-5), but more importantly because it upped their season mark to a league-best 7-1 as they continued to dominate their opponents in the early going this season.
As expected, Taiwan Beer opened with a high-scoring first quarter that saw them lead the Bankers by 10 at 21-11. However, Bank of Taiwan returned the favor against the men in green by going on a surprising 18-3 run in the second quarter to actually lead by five before settling for a 35-32 lead at halftime.
Taiwan Beer headman Yen Jia-hua marched into the locker room for the halftime pep talk with a rare uneasy look on his face because his team had just played one of their worst quarters in team history.
However, whatever he said to his troops must have worked because Taiwan Beer came out of the intermission on fire as they outscored the Bankers 20-13 in the third quarter to reclaim a 52-48 lead by the end of the quarter, then going on to win with a solid fourth quarter.
“It was a good wakeup call for us because it showed that we still have a lot of work to do if we want to win,” Yen said after the game.
His team had won by an average of 13-plus points in their six previous victories prior to last night’s contest.
“A-min [Yang Jing-min] really played like the leader we wanted him to be on this team. His play was what carried us tonight,” Yen said, acknowledging his star forward for playing a great second half.
The Bankers played a brilliant second quarter defensively by -forcing seven turnovers against the best club in the league.
However, failure to sustain the same level of intensity cost them the game as they reverted to their old form in the second half by turning the ball over 11 times to squander the hard-earned first-half lead in their eventual loss.
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