Holding Taiwan Beer to nine points in the decisive third quarter, Bank of Taiwan rallied from a halftime deficit to run away with a 71-68 win at the Hsinchu Municipal Gymnasium last night to pick up their fifth win of the year.
Newcomer Rod Benson played his best game since joining the Bankers earlier in the week by netting eight of his team’s 19 points in the game-turning third quarter to give the financial wizards the lead.
That was the confidence booster Bank of Taiwan needed to deal the Brew Crew their second straight defeat in as many days after their disheartening loss to Pure Youth Construction on a buzzer-beating basket the night before.
Taiwan Beer began the weekend with the league’s best mark, but has since dropped two in a row by a total margin of five points to settle for the No. 3 spot in the standings.
BRAVES 86, TIGERS 83
The Fubon Braves took advantage of a long injury absence by the Dacin Tigers’ Norvel Pelle in the second half to rally past the Cats 86-83 in the weekend finale in Hsinchu last night.
Pelle was off the court for more than five minutes late in the third after suffering an injury to his right wrist with the Tigers leading the Braves by 11.
However, Fubon made sure he would be sorely missed by punching the ball inside the paint with big man Darian Townes doing as he pleased to not only reduce the deficit, but actually take the lead.
Even though Pelle would return midway through the fourth with his team trailing, it was too little, too late against the second-ranked team in the league as they fell short by three in a narrow defeat.
Townes racked up 38 points and 19 rebounds in a dominating effort to miss his fourth double-20 performance of the season by a lone rebound.
KINMEN KAOLIANG 96, LUXGENS 84
Kinmen Kaoliang roughed up the Yulon Luxgens with a brilliant first half and went on to beat the Automakers in a 96-84 final in Hsinchu yesterday afternoon.
An 18-2 start by the Distillers set the tone early in the game as they outplayed the three-time champions in every facet of the game in a 27-point first quarter to enjoy a 17-point cushion and never looked back.
Bryan Davis bounced back from a subpar effort on Saturday with a 41-point outing to help the Distillers in a game that Yulon center Aaron Pettway fouled out late in the third quarter to leave the interior defense vulnerable to Kinmen Kaoliang’s inside attack.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
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