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.
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.
RSS