Doug Creighton’s runaway layup as time expired broke an 80-all tie as Pure Youth Construction overcame a double-digit deficit in the first half with a strong finish to overpower Taiwan Beer 82-80 at the Hsinchu Municipal Gymnasium last night.
The game-winning shot was the perfect ending to Creighton’s season-high 26-point night, as he broke away from what many would consider an off year to reach a double-digit score for only the second time this year, lifting his club past their foes.
“I am glad I was able to help our team win,” an excited Creighton said after the game.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
His timely surge that included five three-pointers was the difference for the three-time defending champions as they shook off the Brew Crew to take sole possession of the lead in the standings.
BRAVES 81, BANK OF TAIWAN 75
Bank of Taiwan hung tough with the Fubon Braves for three quarters in a hard-fought battle before falling short by six in the fourth to settle with an 81-75 loss in the second game in Hsinchu last night.
The underdogs opened with a dismal first quarter, in which they allowed the Braves to dictate the tempo of the game, leading to eight easy points for center Darian Townes from close range.
Even though the Bankers fought back in the second quarter, it did not stop them from trailing the favorites 41-31 at the half.
The Bankers managed to chip away at the deficit in the third quarter, with newly arrived Rod Benson and Chang Po-wei spearheading a comeback and actually getting to within one point of the Braves midway through the fourth, before falling behind for good in the end.
An inability to hit their free throws cost the Bankers the game, as they shot a horrendous four-for-12 from the charity stripe to leave too many points on the table.
TIGERS 105, LUXGENS 90
The Dacin Tigers cruised past the Yulon Luxgens in a 105-90 game in Hsinchu yesterday afternoon, improving to 5-7 for the season.
Six Tigers scored in the double-figures on a day the basket looked as wide as a manhole, as Dacin shot a solid 40-for-77 from the field, including a dozen from downtown, to humble a Yulon squad that had less than 24 hours to celebrate Friday night’s big win over Kinmen Kaoliang to nip a six-game slide.
Hired gun Norvel Pelle grabbed 19 rebounds to go along with his 16 points for the Cats, while his counterpart Aaron Pettway did not have a good first half, shooting a subpar 0-for-four from the field for the Automakers.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier