Taking advantage of a 7-0 run late in the game, the Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards shook off a tough Taiwan Beer squad to run away with a 99-92 win in the second round of this year’s Hualien Probation Cup Basketball Tournament at the Hualien County Sports Complex yesterday afternoon.
Forty-eight combined points by the Leopards’ Chang Yu-lin and Cheng Ren-wei led an attack that showed no signs of aging against a younger and faster Brew Crew, who piled on 32 points in the third quarter to erase a double-digit deficit in the third quarter.
LAST LAUGH
However, the Leopards enjoyed the last laugh as they held Taiwan Beer scoreless for nearly two minutes in the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run to seal the deal in the end.
The win earned the Leopards a bid to take on Bank of Taiwan, who won their second-round match against Kinmen Liquor for the fifth-place finish.
BANK OF TAIWAN 85,
KINMEN LIQUOR 81
Bank of Taiwan held off a fourth-quarter rally by Kinmen Liquor with a narrow 85-81 win in their second-round contest yesterday afternoon to punch their ticket in the fight for a fifth-place finish.
FIRST QUARTER
Unlike the final score suggested, the Distillers actually led the game 21-17 after one quarter of play, thanks to a five-point effort by the never-say-die Sung Yu-hsuan and a three-pointer by Wang Nan-kwei.
DEFICIT
However, the Bankers answered with a sound second quarter to keep the deficit at a deuce at the half, before erupting for a 26-14 run in the third quarter to enjoy a 63-53 cushion by the end of the third.
The 10-point margin proved sufficient, despite a 28-point fourth by the Distillers to give the Bankers a win — which can be described as a mild upset — over the streaky and unimpressive Kinmen Liquor.
Other Scores
‧ Elite Talent Exchange 90,
Luxgens 73
‧ Tigers 65, KT Sports 76
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