Chang Rong-hsuan erupted for 15 points in the decisive fourth quarter and Noel Felix led all scorers with 24 points as the Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards roughed up the Dacin Tigers 87-72 at the Kaohsiung Arena yesterday afternoon to close out the weekend on a high note.
The win not only nipped a two-game slide for the Leopards, but also cut the Tigers’ lead over them to only half a game in the standings as the two squads look to duke it out over the home stretch of the regular season for No. 2 seed in the post-season.
Three three-pointers by Lin Yi-hui helped the fast-starting Dacin Tigers to a 23-13 lead in the opening frame, only for the Leopards to answer with a spectacular second quarter in which they held the Tigers to nine points to claim a narrow 33-32 advantage at halftime.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
Fourteen points by Felix in a 30-point third put the Leopards ahead by five to start the fourth, before Chang turned the game into a one-man show, as he connected on seven of 10 from the field to keep the Tigers from turning the tables.
A failure to contain Felix in the third, coupled with one-for-10 shooting from behind the three-point line in a dismal second dug the Tigers a hole too deep for them to get out of as they headed into the Lunar New Year holiday on a downer.
PURE YOUTH 95, KINMEN KAOLIANG 81
Red-hot Pure Youth Construction made it 11 wins in a row by outscoring Kinmen Kaoliang in the second game in Kaohsiung last night, thanks to a near double-20 effort by Quincy Davis.
The defending champions’ hired gun from the US was one point short of his second double-20 outing of the season, netting 19 points and 22 rebounds against the Distillers in another big day at the office.
Five different Builders scored in double-digits in a game in which skipper Hsu Jin-tseh played more of his reserves than he usually does in an attempt to tune his bench for the post-season.
Other than Davis’ 38 minutes of floor time, no other Pure Youth starters played for more than 24 minutes.
Taylor King kept Kinmen in the game with 20 points through the third quarter, but fouled out early in the fourth, making it virtually impossible for the Distillers to stage a late-game comeback.
Yesterday’s other result:
‧ Luxgens 92, Bank of Taiwan 78
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