Holding top-ranked Pure Youth Construction to 28 first-half points, the red-hot Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards toppled the Builders by a dozen in a 79-67 victory at the National Taiwan University of Physical Education and Sport Gymnasium in Taichung last night to jumpstart the weekend with an upset.
The victory not only avenged the Leopards’ bitter 96-78 loss to Pure Youth in their previous meeting, but also extended their current win streak to three straight as they fight for the fourth and final spot in the postseason with two other squads in a fairly tight race.
A stellar defensive effort by the Leopards forced a season-high 10 turnovers by the Builders in the first quarter to make it a 16-10 lead for the underdogs.
Even though Pure Youth took much better care of the ball by committing only four more turnovers the rest of the way, the damage was already done as the brilliant first quarter gave the Leopards the confidence they lacked in the past to play the league leaders fiercely and helped them maintain a six-point lead (34-28) at the half.
Taiwan Mobile increased the margin to a double-digit lead with a 9-4 run five minutes into the third quarter, before Pure Youth answered with a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Chen Shih-jeh to keep the deficit at nine by the end of the third.
However, the outcome of the game was never in doubt as point man Su Yi-jeh came up big with several clutch baskets with the shot clock winding down to deny the Builders any realistic chance of a comeback. Su ended up with a game-high seven assists in a 10-point night for a solid outing.
Poor perimeter shooting coupled with early turnovers kept the Builders out of their comfort zone throughout the entire game as they managed to convert just 25 of 74 from the field in one of their worst offensive performances of the season.
Luxgens 68, Bank of Taiwan 51
The Yulon Luxgens bounced back from a four-game losing skid with a dominant 17-point win over Bank of Taiwan in the second game in Taichung last night.
Yulon opened the game on a commanding 12-0 run and never looked back en route to an easy win.
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