Overcoming first-half deficits as large as 10 points, the Yulon Luxgens rallied from behind to top Kinmen Kaoliang 81-67 at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City yesterday afternoon to extend their winning streak to three straight.
Lu Cheng-rue scored a team-high 22 points for the second straight day to lead a Luxgens offense that looked sluggish initially, but who managed to regain their rhythm as the game went on to avoid what would have been an upset loss to Kinmen.
Also starring for the Luxgens was center Kevin Johnson, who dominated the glass with a game-high 18 rebounds, along with 19 points to help the four-time champions improve to an 11-5 record.
The Distillers came out firing, with veteran forward Shang Wei-fan nailing a pair of three-pointers and hired gun Elbert Fuqua grabbing eight points as their team claimed a 22-16 lead after the opening period.
However, the Luxgens would return the favor in the second quarter, Johnson netting nine of his team’s 22 points in the quarter to keep it to a one-point deficit at the half.
Kinmen maintained a slim lead for three minutes into the third, before the Luxgens finally tied the game at 42-42 at the 6 minutes, 38 seconds mark and they took the lead for good with less than four minutes remaining in the third.
TAIWAN BEER 73, DACIN TIGERS 63
Resurgent Taiwan Beer were 10 points better than the Dacin Tigers for the second time in two weeks as they tamed the Big Cats in Sinjhuang yesterday afternoon to close out the weekend with a perfect 2-0 record.
Amis warrior Yang Jing-min played his best game since the Lunar New Year break by putting up 23 points and 16 rebounds to lead both teams in both statistical categories.
The game was not the only thing the Tigers lost, as starters Chang Chih-fong, Lin Yi-hui, and Yueh Ying-li were forced to leave the game with injuries serious enough to possibly knock them out of the regular season.
“[Injuries] are all part of the game, we just have to roll with it and move on,” Dacin skipper Chiou Da-tsong said after the game.
PURE YOUTH 85, BANK OF TAIWAN 66
Pure Youth Construction bounced back from their first loss of the year on Saturday with a nine-point come-from-behind win over Bank of Taiwan to retain top spot in the standings.
The upset-minded Bankers led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter, before the Builders went on a 14-2 run in the latter part of the quarter to skid ahead for good.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier