Red-hot Bank of Taiwan stormed past the Fubon Braves in an 83-74 final at the Hualien County Sports Complex in Hualien last night to set a new team record winning streak of five to close out the Year of the Horse on a high note.
Hired gun James Tyler also set a new league record in blocked shots in a single game with 13 swipes to his credit to go along with 22 points and 19 rebounds for a rare triple-double effort on the night.
“It’s a big win for us, a win that we hope we can build on,” Bankers skipper Hung Chun-che said after the game.
Photo Courtesy of the SBL
Having already clinched a playoff berth the night before with Kinmen Kaoliang losing, the financial wizards moved ahead of the Yulon Luxgens by a full game for the sole possession of fourth spot in the standings with their victory.
What should have been an easy victory for the second-place Braves was anything but that as the Bankers hung tough against a shorthanded Fubon lineup, which was missing three of their regular starters (four players in total) to trail the Braves by three points at the half (38-35) with Tyler, lead scorer Chen Hsuan-hsiang, and three-point threat Chen Guo-wei splitting up the scoring burden to keep the Braves defense guessing.
The three-point deficit would soon turn into a lead for good as the Bankers erupted for 24 points in the third quarter to grab a 59-57 lead and they followed it with another 24-point outburst in the decisive fourth to overwhelm the Braves in a marquee victory.
Playing with several of his regular starting teammates on the sideline, Braves big man Darian Townes was a one-man show for head coach Otis Hughley with 27 points and 16 boards in a game where the Braves had only two players in double-digit scoring compared with the Bankers’ five.
TIGERS 80, KINMEN KAOLIANG 74
In the second and final game in Hualien last night, the Dacin Tigers took advantage of back-to-back technical fouls on Kinmen Kaoliang’s Bryan Davis and head coach Wu Chun-hsiung in the closing seconds of the contest to pull away with an 80-74 triumph.
A no-call on an apparent foul by Norvel Pelle on Davis’s desperation three-point attempt with the clock winding down set a raging Davis pleading for a call from the referee, which would have granted him three free-throws.
The technical foul on Davis led to a second technical foul call on Wu, who challenged the officiating crew with several taunting remarks to give the Tigers a total of four free-throw attempts on the play.
Wu ordered his crew to sit out the remaining 2.6 seconds on the clock in silent protest to end the game on a sour note.
“Please don’t decide the outcome of the game with your whistles,” Wu pleaded to the officiating crew at the end of the game.
His team led by as many as seven with under four minutes to play before the Tigers rallied with a 15-4 run to close out the game.
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