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.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set