Holding the shorthanded Yulon Luxgens to 28 dismal points over the first three quarters, the Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards roughed up the four-time champions 77-58 at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Gymnasium in Greater Taichung yesterday afternoon to open the pre-season on a high note.
With their entire starting lineup sidelined to rest their wearied bodies after the five-day Taiwan Strait Tournament, the Luxgens managed to put a young and inexperienced lineup on the floor in their pre-season opener. That played right into the hands of the Leopards, who fully exploited their opponents shortcomings as they held the Car-makers to 11 first-quarter points, before topping that with an even more spectacular six-point second quarter to enjoy a commanding 34-17 lead at the half.
The Leopards would up their lead to as large as 30 points in the third quarter, before the Luxgens mustered a 30-point fourth quarter that made the final score a bit more respectable.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Four different players scored in double figures for the Leopards, led by Lin Yao-tsong’s team-high 17 points and 15 rebounds, while the Luxgens’ Hu Kai-shiang led all scorers with 18 points to be just one of two players to score in double digits on the losing team.
KINMEN 78, BANK OF TAIWAN 76
Kinmen Kaoliang also jump-started their pre-season with a big splash thanks to a 29-point fourth quarter that turned a 10-point deficit in to a narrow victory over winless Bank of Taiwan in the second game in Greater Taichung yesterday.
In a contest that featured several large point swings, it was the Bankers who got hot first with 18 points in the opening quarter to claim an 18-12 advantage.
However, the Distillers soon returned the favor by pouring in 17 while holding the Bankers to 10 in the second quarter to take 29-28 lead at the half.
Nine points by newcomer Zach Atkinson fired Bank of Taiwan to a double-digit margin in the third that appeared sufficient to bring skipper Wei Chen-ming into the win column, but the diehard Distillers simply refused to go away as they strung together a strong fourth to deny Wei the win.
Hired gun Aaron Pettway made his debut for Kinmen Kaoliang a success with 17 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots, to go along with his tremendous 2.11m frame. His arrival should boost the level of play around the league with the lifting of the league’s previous height restriction of 2.05m.
Yesterday’s other result:
‧ Pure Youth 88, Dacin Tigers 81
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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
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
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