Top-seeded Pure Youth Construction clinched an unprecedented fifth straight trip in the championship finals by topping the fifth-seeded Fubon Braves 77-64 in Game 6 of their semi-final series at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night to win the best-of-seven series 4-2.
Tsai Wen-cheng lead a quartet of double-digit scorers for the Builders, who had too many offensive weapons for the Braves as they shook off the underdogs with a 25-15 scoring differential in the game-deciding third quarter to blow a narrow halftime lead wide open.
“We just played our game in the second half the way we knew how and the rest just took care of itself,” Tsai said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
His team-high 16 points, seven of which came in the fourth quarter, helped spoil any chance of a Braves comeback.
Also worthy of praise were Darian Townes and Keh Chi-hao.
The former led a Pure Youth squad that dominated the Braves on the glass by outrebounding their opponents 45-32, while the latter converted four of six from behind the three-point line as they combined for 29 points.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
With their backs to the wall in a must-win situation, the Braves kept it close against the favorites in the early going by feeding the ball to their top scorer Earl Barron, who netted six of his team’s dozen points in the opening quarter to trail Pure Youth 15-12.
The three-point advantage for the Builders lasted through the second quarter as the two sides ended the first half with a 34-31 scoreline.
A 16-2 run in the first three minutes of the third quarter put the Builders 17 ahead, including four three-pointers by the four-time defending champions.
Even though the Braves reduced a 19-point deficit to 13 by the end of the third and came within seven with Barron and Chang Yu-lin connecting from the perimeter, Tsai made sure the Builders would not be denied as he came up with back-to-back baskets to keep his team’s lead at 10 in the final two minutes of play to seal the deal long before the final buzzer sounded.
Next up for Pure Youth are Taiwan Beer in a highly anticipated championship series that is scheduled to begin on Saturday at the Fengshan Gymnasium in Kaohsiung.
It will be a rematch of last year’s title series in which the Builders rallied from a 1-3 deficit to edge the Brew Crew 4-3.
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