Taiwan Beer overcame a sluggish third quarter — in which they netted only nine points — with a dominant fourth to defeat Kinmen Kaoliang 68-65 at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City last night, stretching their winning streak to three.
Lu Chi-min poured in a career-high 27 points to lead the Brew Crew past their foes in a game they led for a good part of the first half before coughing up the advantage in a dismal third quarter with a total offensive collapse.
Fortunately for Taiwan Beer, the Distillers were not able to cash in on their miscues, with several wasted possessions due to poor shot selection to hand the lead back to Taiwan Beer for good in the fourth.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“We started the rally by playing fundamentally sound defense, which helped us get back on track,” Lu said after the game.
His club squandered a seven-point advantage at the half with an awful third before mustering just enough on offense in the fourth to get the job done.
The Brew Crew’s ball-denying defense in the fourth was the key to victory.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
An expected easy victory for second-placed Taiwan Beer — winners in all three of their previous meetings against Kinmen Kaoliang this season — had the makings of another rout as the Brew Crew came out firing with 24 quick points in the opening frame to lead 24-19 at the quarter. Chang Jung-hsuan scored nine points in the quarter to go along with seven from Lu.
The men in the familiar green added to their lead in a more evenly fought second to close out the half at 41-34.
That led to an all-out attack by Kinmen, who doubled up on Taiwan Beer in an 18-9 scoring differential to take the lead in the third, setting the stage for the Brew Crew’s valiant comeback.
Last-placed Kinmen Kaoliang had an excellent opportunity to pull off what would have been a major upset with a rare fourth-quarter lead behind a another strong effort by hired gun Kyle Barone, who increased his team-best scoring average of 23 points per game with 26 on the night. However, he was the lone Kinmen player to finish with double-digit scoring.
Tigers 83, Braves 64
The Dacin Tigers bounced back from a tough loss to top-ranked Pure Youth Construction on Friday night with a win over the Fubon Braves to head into the Lunar New Year break on a high note.
Five three’s in the first half by Lin Guan-lun set the tone as the Cats showered the Braves’ territory with a slew of bombs from long distance to force Fubon out of their game plan early, forcing the Braves to play catch-up ball virtually the entire game.
Lin ended with a season-high 34 points to pace the Cats past Fubon.
The win brought the third-placed Tigers to within two games of Taiwan Beer in the standings.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB