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.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
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