On the back of a brilliant 45-point effort by Bryan Davis, Kinmen Kaoliang pulled off the biggest upset of the season so far by topping the top-ranked Fubon Braves 102-101 at the Hsinchu Municipal Gymnasium last night to nip the Braves’ six-game winning streak.
The US import who played college ball for the Texas A&M Aggies prior to doing several short stints in Asia, proved his worth for the Distillers by scoring nine of his team’s final 10 points, highlighted by a clutch steal off an inbound pass by Fubon that he took all the way down the court for a runaway slam to give his team a 100-95 lead with 15 seconds to go.
Even though the Braves’ Darian Townes made a game of it by nailing back-to-back threes in the closing seconds, it was too little, too late as the top-ranked side suffered a disheartening loss to end an otherwise tremendous six-game run.
Coming into the contest as heavy underdogs, the last-placed Distillers played the opposite of what their 2-8 record would suggest as they matched the Braves basket for basket in a high-scoring first half that ended in a 52-all tie.
Both teams managed to take leads as large as five points in the second before Davis turned the game into a one-man show down the stretch to lift his team past Fubon in an improbable win.
TIGERS 95, BANK OF TAIWAN 70
The Dacin Tigers bounced back from an embarrassing defeat to Taiwan Beer on Saturday night with a convincing win over Bank of Taiwan in Hsinchu last night to improve to 4-7 for the season.
Six players scored in double-digits for the Cats in one of their best offensive showings of the season, led by Lin Guan-lung and Yueh Ying-li, with 15 points apiece.
Dacin opened a 24-16 lead after one quarter of play and never looked back, leading by more than 30 points in the third before playing a meaningless fourth to claim a rare blowout victory.
“It’s a big win for us considering the slump we’ve been in,” Tigers skipper Hsu Chih-chao said.
His troops have not played too well since team icon and three-time league MVP Tien Lei went to China at the start of the season.
TAIWAN BEER 79, LUXGENS 70
Taiwan Beer won their third straight game this week by downing the Yulon Luxgens 79-70 yesterday afternoon to take sole possession of the top spot in the standings.
Liu Chan’s clutch three with less than a minute to play gave the Brew Crew a five-point lead as they held off a Yulon squad that fought doggedly, before succumbing to the league leaders by committing a fatal turnover in the closing seconds.
A sound defense was the key to victory for Taiwan Beer, who held Yulon’s three-point scoring threats Lu Cheng-rue and Chou Shih-yuan to a combined four-for-17 shooting from downtown.
Big man Patrick O’Bryant also had a big day at the office, with 30 points and 13 rebounds.
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