Bryan Davis easily earned nods from members of the National Basketball Writers’ Association to be named the Player of the Week in the Super Basketball League after averaging 31 points in three games last week.
The US import, who played college ball for the Texas A&M Aggies prior to a number of professional stints in New Zealand, the Middle East and South Korea before signing with Kinmen Kaoliang at the start of the season, continues to excel on the offensive front by improving his league-leading average of 27.6 points per game prior to last week to 28.5 points per game last week.
“[Davis] is undoubtedly the premier offensive threat in the league, with so many different weapons in his repertoire,” Kinmen Kaoliang skipper Wu Chun-hsiung said of his star player after learning of his selection for the weekly honor.
Davis’ season-high 45 points in the Distillers’ showdown against the Fubon Braves was the main reason that they managed to pull off the upset of the year so far with a 102-101 triumph over the Braves on Sunday.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be selected. I would like to thank my teammates and coaches for their support,” Davis said after he was notified of the news earlier this week.
His improved shot selection, supported by better than 70 percent shooting in the Braves game, will make him even tougher to defend against.
The Distillers have a chance to dig themselves out of the cellar in the standings this weekend with back-to-back matches against the struggling Yulon Luxgens, losers of six straight to set a new team record for consecutive losses, starting with tonight’s weekend opener, followed by a rematch on Sunday at the Hsinchu Municipal Gymnasium.
It is set to be a big test for Kinmen Kaoliang, as the Automakers will most likely double-team Davis to keep his points total under 20, while firing up their three-point game with shooters Chou Shih-yuan and Lu Cheng-rue trying to rediscover their range.
In tonight’s other game, Bank of Taiwan face Pure Youth Construction in Hsinchu, where the Bankers will likely feature the newly arrived Rod Benson, who was once league MVP of South Korea’s Korean Basketball League.
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
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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