Scoring more than 90 points for the second straight day, Pure Youth Construction easily handled the Taiwan Mobile Leopards 93-79 at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City late yesterday afternoon to close out the weekend with a perfect 2-0 record.
Quincy Davis had a big day at the office, with 20 points and 19 boards in 33 minutes of floor time, one rebound shy of a double-20 performance, giving his new team a big boost at both ends of the court.
Also starring were Ghe Chi-hao and Lin Tsong-ching, who netted 16 and 13 points respectively to take the scoring burden off team leader Chen “Airman” Hsin-an.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The victory not only kept the Builders in stride with the top-ranked Dacin Tigers, who also won yesterday with a big come-from-behind victory over Kinmen Liquor, but more importantly it extended their winning streak to a season-high six, not too shabby considering the Builders opened the season with back-to-back losses.
“I like what I see, with some of our less-known guys picking up the slack for Hsin-an,” Pure Youth coach Hsu Jin-tseh said after the game.
His troops have finally shaken off their poor start and have played like contenders as expected.
As for the Leopards, failure to secure the ball in a 20-turnover effort proved too much to overcome as they settled for a 1-2 record over the weekend to fall to a 4-7 record for the season.
TIGERS 75, KINMEN LIQUOR 64
League leaders the Dacin Tigers showed signs of weakness in a mediocre first half, but they woke up just in time with 40 second-half points to defeat Kinmen Liquor 75-64 in the first game in Sinjhuang yesterday afternoon.
Tien Lei’s strong drive to the hoop in the fourth quarter that ended with a thunderous dunk was case in point for the roaring Cats, who fell behind by as many as 15 points in the second quarter, before chipping away at the deficit and eventually winning it in the fourth.
Despite a second-half collapse that cost them the lead, the Distillers were very much in the game and actually led briefly at 60-59 with less than four minutes remaining, but the Tigers answered with a tenacious 16-4 run the closing minutes to run away with the victory.
LUXGENS 91, TAIWAN BEER 82
Struggling defending champions Taiwan Beer’s troubles continued as they suffered yet another loss to set a new high with a five-game losing skid in a 91-82 loss to the Yulon Luxgens in Sinjhuang last night.
It was the third straight game the Brew Crew allowed more than 90 points, further exposing the gaping holes in their defense that skipper Yen Jia-hua must immediately address.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite