James Mao’s clutch drive to the hoop with less than five seconds to go earned Pure Youth Construction an 87-85 victory against the Yulon Luxgens at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium in Tianmu yesterday afternoon. It was the defending SBL champions’ second straight victory.
Mao did not have a good game statistically, with only seven points to his credit in over 15 minutes of floor time. However, five of the seven came during the final minute of play to help his team avoid what would have been an embarrassing defeat, with the Builders squandering leads as large as 18 points.
Pure Youth came out firing, with 23 points in the opening quarter, eight of them by hired gun Quincy Davis who led all scorers with 31 on the night.
Photo: Courtesy of SBL
However, the Luxgens were able to chip away at the deficit with a swarming three-point attack that erupted for 35 points in the third to fall within a point of the Builders after trailing by 14 at the half. Yulon actually led in the fourth before letting the game slip away in the end.
Tigers 84, Kinmen Liquor 76
The previously winless Dacin Tigers took advantage of a Kinmen Liquor squad missing the services of former Tiger forward Taylor King to cruise past the Distillers 84-76 in Tianmu last night to pocket their first win of the season.
The American had to miss the encounter because of an agreement stipulating that King would sit out a game between the clubs in exchange for him being allowed to leave the Tigers to join Kinmen Liquor.
Thus the forward had to watch from the sidelines as his former team earned the victory.
Bank of Taiwan 83, Leopards 80
Bank of Taiwan made it two wins in a row by upsetting the Taiwan Mobile Leopards 83-80 in the third game in Tianmu last night.
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
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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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB