Tsai Jung-ming’s clutch steal in the closing seconds, followed by a pair of free throws, lifted the Dacin Tigers past Taiwan Beer in a 77-75 thriller at the Kaohsiung Arena yesterday afternoon.
The reserve center, who came into the game with less than two minutes to play to replace fouled-out starter Rolando Howell, exceeded expectations by successfully defending against the low-post play of Taiwan Beer’s Byron Allen on the ensuing possession before coming up big on the clutch steal and finishing things off with the game-winning free throws to give the Cats their second straight win.
“I’m used to playing against [Allen] when he was playing for us, so that might have given me some advantage,” Tsai said after the game of playing against ex-teammate Allen, who spent two seasons with the Tigers before joining the Brewers at the start of this season.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
Dacin ended the first quarter with a 22-18 cushion and led 41-35 at the half.
The Brew Crew regrouped in the third to keep the deficit under five before rallying to within a point late in the fourth, setting the stage for Tsai’s heroics.
BANK OF TAIWAN 94, KINMEN 88
Bank of Taiwan bounced back from an embarrassing loss to Taiwan Beer on Friday night with a sound 94-88 win over Kinmen Kaoliang in the second game in Kaohsiung early yesterday evening.
Birthday boy Chang Bo-sheng lit up the scoreboard with a season-high 23 points to guide Bankers to triumph. It was the second time that the guard out of the National Taiwan University of Arts had scored 23 points this season, the previous occasion also being against the Distillers.
“I don’t know why, but I seem to play my best against [Bank of Taiwan],” Chang said after the game.
Neither team had the upper hand in a closely fought first half that saw the two squads trade leads no bigger than four.
Chuang Hsiao-we then took matters into his own hands, the Bankers forward erupting for eight points in a 24-point third as his team took a double-digit lead, an advantage they would not relinquish, en route to victory.
PURE YOUTH 80, LUXGENS 78
Quincy Davis’ two-footer with the clock winding down was the difference as Pure Youth Construction shook off a valiant comeback by the Yulon Luxgens to win the third game in Kaohsiung last night.
The victory extended their win streak to a season-high 10 straight.
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but