The Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards ended their season on a high note with a 66-63 win over Kinmen Kaoliang at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City late yesterday afternoon.
Chang Yu-lin’s clutch deuce with a minute remaining in the contest put the Leopards ahead 65-61 as they made it a two-possession game. After Su Hsiang-yi’s free throw made it 66-61 at the 0:21 mark, the Distillers managed to strike back quickly with Shang Wei-fan nailing a pair of free throws that brought his team to within three points of the Leopards with 19.5 seconds on the clock.
However, Kinmen Kaoliang failed to push any further even though they got the ball back on a turnover, as Hong Chi-chao’s rushed three-point attempt with nine seconds on the clock never even touched the rim, giving the Leopards a close win that ended an otherwise disappointing season on a relatively positive note.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The Leopards opened the game with an 11-4 run over the first seven minutes, with Chang and Ryan Wright hitting their marks in a comfortable start.
Kinmen Kaoliang closed the gap by scoring the final four points of the first quarter to end it trailing 17-11 before Anthony Fuqua exploded for six in an all-Kinmen Kaoliang second quarter to force a 28-all tie at the half.
A pair of three-pointers by Chen Jing-huan helped the Leopards claim a 48-44 advantage at the end of the third quarter before a 7-0 run by the Distillers erased the deficit and gave Kinmen Kaoliang a 55-53 lead midway through the fourth.
That was when Chang took control, calmly scoring five of his team’s next eight points to tip the scale back in the Leopards’ favor en route to a season-ending victory.
Luxgens 87, Tigers 62
The Yulon Luxgens took a 23-17 lead after the first quarter as they trounced the Dacin Tigers 87-62 in the night game in Sinjhuang yesterday to finish off their -regular-season campaign in grand fashion.
Rookie Chou Bo-chen had a huge day with 21 points to lead all scorers as the two teams get set for the post-season.
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