Pure Youth Construction overcame a sluggish third quarter with a valiant finish in the final minutes to turn back a feisty Bank of Taiwan squad 79-76 at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City last night to improve to a 4-1 mark for the season.
Tsai Wen-cheng’s runaway layup off a Bank of Taiwan turnover on an inbound pass with 15 seconds left to play rallied the four-time defending champions from as many as three down with less than 30 seconds remaining to put the Builders ahead for good.
“The ball just came loose and we were in the right place at the right time to cash in on [Bank of Taiwan’s] mistake,” Tsai said after the game, referring to Bank of Taiwan guard Lee Wei-che’s erroneous inbound pass that found its way to Pure Youth’s Lin Chin-bang, who immediately hurled the ball up the court to Tsai for the game-deciding finish.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Heading into the contest with a big win over the Yulon Luxgens under their belt, the Bankers matched the Builders shot-for-shot in an evenly fought first quarter that ended tied at 21-21 before a drop in intensity saw them trail Pure Youth 41-37 at the half.
The deficit was short-lived as hired gun Luke Nevill of Australia decided to take matters into his own hands by converting five of six from the field in a 12-point third to give the Bankers a 61-59 lead after three quarters of play.
Bank of Taiwan maintained a slim lead early in the fourth before the two clubs got into a seesaw battle, with the lead constantly changing, until Liu Wei-cheng’s uncontested layup off a busted coverage by Pure Youth with 28 seconds on the clock gave the Bankers a 76-73 lead.
Pure Youth managed to score on the ensuing play when Chen Chien-en drove the ball to the hoop to cut the deficit to one before a fatal turnover by the Bankers set up Tsai’s game-winner.
The late-game collapse by the Bankers negated an otherwise brilliant performance by Nevill, who led all scorers with a season-high 30 points. The big man, who is on his second stint in Taiwan after spending the first with the former Taiwan Mobile Leopards, was virtually unstoppable before his team self-destructed in the final minutes to give the game away.
Kinmen Kaoliang 74, Braves 73
Kinmen Kaoliang dealt the Fubon Braves their third straight defeat in a 74-73 thriller in the second game, thanks to a clutch three by Chien Wei-jue in the final seconds to turn a 73-71 deficit into a 74-73 lead.
The second-year small forward out of the National Taiwan Normal University made the most of his first career start by knocking down the game-winner, with a Brave defender in his face, to give his team the lead for good.
Trailing by one, the Braves had one last chance for the win, with Joseph Lin putting up a rushed three, but the ball bounced off the rim with the clock expiring to deny the Braves a chance of a last-second miracle.
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