Taiwan Beer easily handled Bank of Taiwan in a 66-50 final at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night to jumpstart the new year in grand fashion.
Patrick O’Bryant showed off his height (2.13m) and a surprisingly effective perimeter game by connecting from downtown and hitting several mid-range jumpers on a game-high, 23-point night with 13 rebounds to lead the victorious Brew Crew.
It was the fourth-straight contest that the former NBA baller out of Bradley University in the US scored 20 or more points, as he continued to dominate the opposing defense, while holding his ground on defense.
Photo: Courtesy of the SBL
Taiwan Beer opened the game with a 10-3 run over the first three minutes and quickly doubled the advantage to 14 points by the end of the quarter with a 21-7 score.
Even though the Bankers answered with a 10-6 run of their own in the opening minutes of the second quarter to pull within 10 points of the men in their familiar green uniforms, the Brew Crew promptly returned the favor with a 6-0 run before settling for a 33-20 lead at the half.
Another 6-0 run by Taiwan Beer to start the second half gave them their biggest lead at 39-20 three minutes into the third.
The Bankers managed to reduce the lead to nine, with Hsu Chih-chiang leading a 10-0 run midway through the third, but that was as close as they got, as Taiwan Beer came up big with several run-stopping buckets against the Bankers to keep a double-digit cushion the rest of the way.
Poor shot selection, coupled with an inability to secure the defensive glass that led to 20 offensive rebounds for Taiwan Beer, ultimately cost the Bankers the win, as they were simply outplayed and outhustled by the Brew Crew in a game that was over long before the final buzzer.
PURE YOUTH 94, KINMEN LIQUOR
63Sparked by a near-flawless third quarter, the top-ranked Pure Youth Construction roughed up Kinmen Liquor in a 94-63 blowout in the second game in Sinjhuang last night.
The Builders put on 25 points on offense, while holding Kinmen Liquor to eight meager points with a spectacular defense that forced seven turnovers in the decisive third to seal the victory before the fourth quarter even began.
Fred Kerley is competing unaugmented against drug-fuelled athletes at this weekend’s Enhanced Games and still hopes to race in the 2028 Olympics, the suspended former 100m world champion said on Friday. Arguably the biggest name at the divisive event in Las Vegas, where doping is permitted, the US sprinter said he had chosen not to take any of the banned substances including testosterone and steroids that his competitors have been using. “I don’t need it. God gave me fast feet for a reason. And I’m here to showcase my talent,” Kerley said. Kerley last September became the first US competitor and first track
MLB is experiencing an epidemic of guys being dudes. At ballparks all across the US, groups consisting of mostly young men are joining in on the “Tarps Off” trend that is loud, goofy, infectious and new to the baseball world. Joining in on the fun is simple: Go to the section where the party is happening, take off your shirt and start twirling it above your head. Soccer-like chants or singing usually follow — injecting a jolt of energy for a sport that is occasionally chided for its lack of energy inside the stadium. After getting its start in St Louis, Missouri, on
Hull City AFC are to play Middlesbrough for a place in the Premier League after Southampton on Wednesday failed in their appeal against expulsion from the Championship playoff final for spying on opponents. Southampton were thrown out of the final on Tuesday and handed a four-point deduction for next season after they had beaten semi-final opponents Middlesbrough. “The original sanction of expulsion ... remains in place, as does the four-point deduction to be applied to the 2026/27 Championship table and the reprimand in respect of all charges,” the English Football League said in a statement. The final is to be played at Wembley
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL: Officials, players and fans winging across all of North America are likely to make this the most polluting World Cup ever, say scientists The largest and likely most lucrative ever World Cup this summer could set a record for the most-polluting sporting event in history, environmental experts say. “Unlike the case of the Olympic Games, where the carbon footprints have been reducing over the last several editions, this is totally opposite in the case of FIFA men’s World Cup,” said David Gogishvili, a geographer at the University of Lausanne (Unil). The summer’s World Cup has been expanded to 48 teams for the first time. It is being played in three countries — Mexico, Canada and the US — for the first time. It is going to
RSS