Herve Lamizana’s clutch three-pointer with 11.6 seconds remaining put the Yulon Luxgens ahead for good as they hung tough against top-ranked Pure Youth Construction at the Hualien County Sports Complex last night to pull off an 81-78 upset win.
It was by far the biggest win for the Automakers in recent weeks, as they clinched a post-season berth with the victory right before the Lunar New Year holidays to end an otherwise disappointing Year of the Horse on a high note.
“[Lamizana] has definitely given us a much-needed boost since he joined us and I hope this trend will continue right into the playoffs,” Yulon head coach Lin Cheng-ming said of the game-breaker.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The Luxgens could finish as high as No. 4 in the standings with a pair of games left in the regular season.
“I knew it the second [the game-winning three] left my hands,” Lamizana said after the game.
He finished with 20 points to tie the Builders’ Garret Siler for game-high scoring as the extra effort he put in to improve his shooting range in the off-season paid off in a big way.
What should have been a fairly easy win for the three-time defending champions turned into a dog-fight.
They lead the Automakers by a deuce after one quarter of play before allowing 23 points in the second to trail the Luxgens 41-40 at the half.
Neither team had the upper hand in a hard-fought third, which saw Yulon add to their lead by one before a seesaw battle between the two squads occupied the majority of the fourth quarter to set the stage for Lamizana’s game-clincher.
Aside from Lamizana, Chou Shih-yuan and Lu Cheng-rue also had big games for the Luxgens, with 17 and 16 points respectively.
As for the Builders, the loss not only nipped a five-game win streak, but also exposed weaknesses skipper Hsu Chin-che will want to address during the break as they get set to finish off the final week of regular-season play strong following the 13-day break.
TIGERS 80, TAIWAN BEER 86
In yesterday’s second game, Taiwan Beer held off a late rally by the Dacin Tigers to escape with their second win in as many days.
After a slow start that saw the Brew Crew trail the Cats 19-14 at the end of the first quarter, the men in the familiar green trim outscored Dacin 28-17 in a dominant second quarter to close out the first half with a 42-36 advantage.
The lead grew to double figures in the third as Patrick O’Bryant led the way with 10 points in the quarter.
Trailing by as many as 15 in the fourth, the Tigers fought back with Chou Yi-hsiang hitting his shots and Norvel Pelle following suit in an all-out rally to pull within three with approximately a minute left.
That was as close as they got as O’Bryant converted on all four of his free-throw attempts in the closing seconds to keep the lead intact.
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