The upset-minded bottom-of-the-standings Dacin Tigers pulled off the impossible by trouncing top-of-the-standings Pure Youth Construction 87-57 at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night.
What should have been a stroll in the park for the three-time defending champions turned into a dog fight from the get-go as the Cats surprised them with a 20-point first quarter, with Lin Guan-luen downing five quick points after coming off the bench to led the attack.
Even though the Builders regrouped in the second quarter and reduced a seven-point deficit after one quarter of play to four points at halftime with a solid quarter of play, but the damage had already been done as the Tigers mustered the necessary confidence to blow the game wide open in a third quarter in which they smothered the league leaders and outscored the Builders 28-8 in one of the most dominating quarters of play seen this season.
Photo: Chen Chi-chu, Taipei Times
The 24-point lead proved ample even for the basement-dwelling Cats, as they outmaneuvered the Builders 19-13 in a meaningless fourth to run away with a 30-point victory.
All 12 players made it into the score book on the night, with Norvel Pelle’s 13 points and eight rebounds leading the way.
For Pure Youth Construction, newcomer Garret Siler’s game-high 17 points was the lone highlight in a game in which they were held to a season-low eight points in the game-deciding third quarter.
“[Pure Youth Construction] just did not have their perimeter game on tonight and that was the difference in the game,” Dacin Tigers coach Hsu Chih-chao said after the game.
The Tigers have won three of their past four games after winning only five of their first 19 of the season.
TAIWAN BEER 80, KINMEN 76
Taiwan Beer rallied from a double-digit deficit in the first half with a solid second half to wear down Kinmen Kaoliang in the second game in New Taipei City last night.
It was the Brew Crew’s second straight victory in as many days following their rout of the Yulon Luxgens on Thursday.
Patrick O’Bryant had another huge day at the office with 37 points on the night following Thursday’s 42-point outburst.
The win also improved third-placed Taiwan Beer’s season record to 13-10, 3.5 games ahead of the fourth-placed Distillers.
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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