Exhibition action began in the Super Basketball League (SBL) yesterday afternoon with the Yulon Luxgens downing Taiwan Beer 76-63 at the Changhua County Gymnasium.
The first-ever SBL contest in Changhua drew an enthusiastic crowd that cheered on last season’s MVP Liu Chan, who did not have the kind of start he was looking for as he netted only nine points and collected a lone rebound over 24 minutes of play, starting the pre-season on the wrong foot.
Even though his Brew Crew lost their game, star center Patrick O’Bryant did manage to flash some moments of brilliance on a 20-point night with 3-for-5 shooting from behind the three-point arc to show off his newly acquired shooting range that should complement his inside work nicely in the upcoming season.
Photo: Lin Tsung-wei, Taipei Times
The Automakers opened the contest with a 21-14 run in the first quarter, before slipping a bit in the second to settle to a 41-38 advantage at the half.
They padded their lead by one in a hard-fought, low-scoring third, before holding Taiwan Beer to 10 points in the decisive fourth to run away with a double-digit win.
Taiwan Beer looked solid in the rebounding department as they out-muscled Yulon inside the paint to enjoy a 43-37 margin off the glass.
However, that did not offset their horrendous display in turnovers and their 26 miscues, more than 10 of which were unforced and ultimately cost them the game.
BANK OF TAIWAN 75, BRAVES 59
The Fubon Braves (formerly the Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards) opened their campaign on a down note after falling to Bank of Taiwan in Changhua last night.
Newcomer Darian Townes of the US had a decent game on both ends of the floor with 18 points and 18 rebounds for the Braves following the departure of Australian big man Luke Neville from the roster.
Also starring was Bankers hired gun James Tyler, who outshone Townes with a game-high seven blocked shots, 22 points and 14 rebounds to pass his first test in a Bank of Taiwan uniform.
Other than a meaningless fourth quarter in which the Financial Wizards were held to nine points after they had taken a 66-45 lead to start off the quarter, the game was all the Bankers as they led from the get go en route to an easy victory.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
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HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite