The Taiwan Mobile Leopards avoided finishing in last place for the regular season by sneaking past top-ranked Taiwan Beer in a 79-77 final at the Sinjhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City last night.
A loss in their regular-season finale, coupled with a win by Kinmen Kaoliang, would have given the Leopards a last-place finish, they would lose the tie-breaker by virtue of their head-to-head record, even if the two teams finished with identical 10-20 records.
Apparently that was a big enough motivation for the Leopards as they jumped to a 19-16 lead after the opening quarter and upped it slightly to 38-33 at the half, before holding off a tenacious rally by Taiwan Beer to hold on to the win.
Outstanding guards made the difference as Wei Wei, Su Hsiang-yi and Wu Yong-ren together netted 53 of their team’s points to send skipper Cheng Chih-long off on a winning note.
Cheng had announced his resignation prior to the contest to take responsibility for failing to qualify for the postseason in all four seasons he has been at the helm.
Even though the Leopards would not confirm his resignation, a major change in the coaching staff is expected in the upcoming offseason.
KINMEN KAOLIANG 88, LUXGENS 84
Kinmen Kaoliang continued their recent surge in an otherwise disappointing season with an 88-84 win over the Yulon Luxgens in the Sinjhuang Gymnasium earlier yesterday.
Even though victory No. 10 was not enough to pull the Distillers out of the cellar as far as the standings were concerned, it was a big win for them nonetheless.
After the defending champs came out firing in a high-scoring first quarter that saw them lead 28-19, it was the Distillers who returned the favor in the second quarter as they pulled off a 20-13 run to trail the Luxgens by two (41-39) at the half.
It took the solid play of Shawn Hawkins toward the end of the third quarter to spark a 9-0 run that put Kinmen Kaoliang ahead 62-54.
The lead proved sufficient, despite a comeback attempt by Yulon as Kinmen Kaoliang went on to win by four.
PURE YOUTH 84, BANK OF TAIWAN 82
Pure Youth Constructions managed to shake off a four-point deficit in the final quarter to top Bank of Taiwan 84-82 in the final regular season game for both teams.
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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
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