Rolando Howell racked up a season-high 34 points and Tien Lei came out of a recent slump with a monstrous dunk in the fourth quarter as the Dacin Tigers edged the Yulon Luxgens 72-69 at the National Taiwan University of Physical Education and Sport Gymnasium in Taichung yesterday afternoon.
The win lifted the Cats out of the cellar in the standings and provided a much-needed confidence boost as they look to regain their wining form under the leadership of new coach Hsu Chih-chao.
“It was a big win for us because we haven’t been this flat in years,” Tien said after the game, referring to the fact that the Tigers had never begun a season at 1-3 prior to this year.
They have also made it into the postseason in all but one of the past nine seasons, appearing in four of the last five championship finals.
Tien’s timely surge could be bad news for their opponents down the line.
The Luxgens led by as many as 10 with a three-point attack that forced the Tigers out of their game plan of defending against the inside play of hired gun Colby Batiste. However, the Tigers rode on the red-hot hands of Howell, who had 20 points at the half.
An 8-0 run by the Tigers in the third gave them a five-point cushion, only for the Luxgens to answer with a buzzer-beating three-pointer to grab a 58-55 lead through the third, setting the stage for a Tigers’ fourth-quarter comeback.
PURE YOUTH 76, BANK OF TAIWAN 67
Pure Youth Construction downed Bank of Taiwan 76-67 in the second game in Taichung last night.
Fresh off an upset win over Taiwan Beer the night before, the Bankers had every reason to believe they could pull off another shock against the defending champs.
That would not be the case as the Builders opened the contest with 23 quick points in the first quarter in front of their home crowd and never looked back. Point guard Chen Shih-jeh led the scoring with 29 points on the night to deny the Bankers.
Even though the outcome of the game did not go the Bankers’ way, keeping the deficit to under 10 points should be considered a moral victory given that they lost their most reliable scorer (Hsu Chih-chiang) to a knee injury the night before and have been blown out by the Builders more often than not in the past.
TAIWAN BEER 76, KINMEN LIQUOR 72
Taiwan Beer needed a strong fourth quarter to offset a dismal third as they came from behind to top Kinmen Liquor 76-72 in the final game in Taichung last night.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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