Top-seeded Pure Youth Construction made it two wins in a row by beating the fourth-seeded Yulon Luxgens in a 91-86 final in Game 3 of the semi-finals at the University of Taipei Gymnasium in Tianmu last night to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Garret Siler shook off a pair of subpar outings in the first two contests of the series by converting 13 of 17 attempts from the field for a game-high 28 points and 13 rebounds to pace the three-time defending champs past their foes in the all-important Game 3.
Pure Youth Construction have won all three of their Game 3’s in the semi-finals they have played in over the past three seasons.
“I know what they are saying about the winners in Game 3 over the last three years, but Yulon has proven themselves to be capable of beating anyone in the league,” Pure Youth head coach Hsu Chin-che said prior to the game.
In addition to Siler’s monstrous game, Tsai Wen-cheng and Doug Creighton also chipped in 17 and 16 points respectively to take the scoring burden off the US big man.
As for Yulon, Chou Shih-yuan lead a starting five crew that scored in double-digits with 24 points on the night, but it was not nearly enough the turn the tables for the Automakers, who will need to win three of the next four to keep their title hopes alive.
TAIWAN BEER 67, BRAVES 57
In the other semi-final contest in Tianmu, third-seeded Taiwan Beer also won their second straight game by topping the second-seeded Fubon Braves 67-57 to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven set.
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