Postseason action commenced in the SBL with the top-ranked Pure Youth Construction blowing past the Yulon Luxgens in an 81-47 final at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City late yesterday afternoon, to take a quick 1-0 lead in their series.
The Builders held the four-time champs to a dismal eight points to take a surprising 15-8 lead in the opening quarter. They never looked back and humbled Yulon with leads as large as 36 points in the second half.
“It’s a big win for us since we’ve never won the first game in the playoffs before,” Pure Youth head coach Hsu Jin-tseh said after the game.
Photo courtesy of Bros Sports Marketing
His troops dominated the Luxgens in every facet of the game with a near-flawless performance on the night.
A solid defensive scheme that kept the Luxgens at an unprecedented 0-for-17 from behind the three-point arc in the first three quarters was the foundation and key to Pure Youth’s success. Even though the Luxgens finally converted a three-point attempt late in the game to avoid being totally shut out from long range, their horrendous 1-for-19 three-point shooting was anything but commendable.
“[Pure Youth] really beat us pretty badly today, but there’s no reason to dwell on it, as we have another game to get ready for,” Yulon skipper Chiou Chi-yi said.
He and the Luxgens don’t have much time to figure out what went wrong as they play again in Game 2 today.
Four different players scored in double-digits for the Builders, led by speedy guard Chen Shih-jeh’s game-high 18, while Chou Bo-chen was the lone Yulon player to hit double digits in scoring with 11.
TAIWAN BEER 86, TIGERS 74
Taiwan Beer took care of business in their series opener against the Dacin Tigers with a come-from-behind win in Sinjhuang last night.
The Brew Crew trailed by as many as a half-dozen during the first half with hired gun Kibwe Trim missing six of 10 free-throw attempts to set his team back.
However, that did not matter much as Trim more than made up for his early misses by hitting six of 11 from the field to rack up 18 points on the night.
Also starring for Taiwan Beer was Yang “Amis Warrior” Jing-min, who led all scorers with 26 points, including five treys that forced the Tigers to remain in a man-to-man defensive scheme longer than skipper Huang Wan-long preferred.
After six straight points by Taiwan Beer at the start the second half helped erase a five-point halftime deficit, the game was all Taiwan Beer as the Brew Crew outscored the Cats 26-16 in the third quarter and closed out the contest with a superior fourth to run away with the big win.
STILL IN THE HUNT: Rasmus Hojlund took his goal tally for SSC Napoli to nine as the champions cruised to a win at US Cremonese and stayed two points behind the leaders Inter on Sunday stayed at the Serie A summit after beating Atalanta BC 1-0 to maintain their slender lead over local rivals AC Milan. Lautaro Martinez netted the only goal of the game in Bergamo for Inter, who lead Milan, 3-0 winners against Hellas Verona thanks to Christoper Nkunku’s first Serie A goals, by a single point at the top of the division. The Argentina striker has scored in four consecutive league matches to end what has been a tricky year in positive style. “I ended last season in a lot of pain... I kept going during the Club World Cup and international
Hosts Morocco on Friday were held to a 1-1 draw by Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations, ending their world record run of wins and leaving them still to make sure of progress to the next stage. Midfielder Brahim Diaz tucked away a penalty in stoppage-time at the end of the first half, but Mali equalized from the spot midway through the second half through Lassine Sinayoko. Both penalties were awarded after video reviews in a tempestuous clash at the end of a busy day of action at the tournament. Morocco were atop the Group A standings with four points, while Zambia,
Algeria on Sunday became the third country after Egypt and Nigeria to qualify for the knockout stage of the Africa Cup of Nations by edging Burkina Faso 1-0 in Rabat through a Riyad Mahrez penalty. Defending champions Ivory Coast failed to join the trio after drawing 1-1 with Cameroon in a lively showdown in Marrakesh. Elsewhere, Mozambique ended a 39-match wait for a first victory by beating Gabon 3-2, while Sudan got back into contention for a last-16 slot by beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in Casablanca. Captain Mahrez converted from the penalty spot midway through the first half and Algeria then held on
Supermaxis Master Lock Comanche and defending champions LawConnect yesterday continued their close duel on the second day of the 80th running of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Just over 27 hours into the race that began on Friday in Sydney Harbour and is to end on the island state of Tasmania, Comanche had a 4 nautical mile (7.4km) lead over LawConnect. LawConnect was forced to contend with a broken mainsheet and halyard overnight, but fixed both issues and remained in pursuit of Comanche, which is skippered by Matt Allen and James Mayo. “We had a few things slow us down and Comanche’s
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