The slumping Dacin Tigers took advantage of a late-game collapse by Taiwan Beer to break free, turning an otherwise close contest into an 82-70 win at the National Taiwan University of Physical Education and Sport Gymnasium in Greater Taichung last night to end a three-game losing skid.
In a game that featured eight lead changes and four ties in the second half alone, it was the Tigers who had the last laugh, as Wang Chih-chuin, Lin Yi-hui, and Tien Lei combined for four three-pointers during the final five minutes to chase the defending champs off the floor.
Knowing that a win over the Brew Crew would propel them to a tie for third place in the standings, the Tigers came out firing as Noel Felix attacked the paint with seven first-quarter points to take a 21-13 lead in the opening quarter.
Photo Courtesy of the SBL
However, Taiwan Beer returned the favor behind three three-pointers by Cheng “Qoo” Ren-wei in a 22-14 run to force a 35-35 tie at the half.
Neither team could keep leads greater than three in a highly competitive third that saw the Tigers enjoy a one-point lead to start the fourth.
The close play continued for nearly seven minutes in the fourth before a field goal by Lin broke a 64-64 tie to give the Tigers the lead for good.
PURE YOUTH 71, KINMEN 53
Holding Kinmen Kaoliang to a record-low 53 points, Pure Youth Construction bounced back from a tough loss on Friday night with an 18-point win in the early game yesterday afternoon to even their mark for the weekend at 1-1.
Quincy Davis racked up his second 20-20 outing of this season with 24 points and 20 rebounds to lead the Builders, who held the Distillers to a season-low three points in the third quarter to put the game away.
Also starring for Pure Youth was Doug Creighton, who rediscovered his range from behind the three-point arc by converting four of eight from long range as he scored 13 points, a noticeable improvement from his 0 for 5 from the field the night before.
Failure to connect from the perimeter ultimately cost Kinmen the game as they shot a miserable 2 for 22 from behind the three-point line to dig a hole too deep for them to overcome.
LUXGENS 75, LEOPARDS 69
The Yulon Luxgens made it two wins in a row by cooling off the Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards with a six-point victory in the late game in Taichung to end a three-game win streak for the Leopards.
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