Overcoming several misses from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, Pure Youth Construction held off a late-game rally by Taiwan Beer to collect a 73-70 win in Game 1 of the championship finals at the Kaohsiung Feng Shan Gymnasium last night to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Tsai Wen-cheng came up huge with three clutch baskets and as many defensive rebounds in the final quarter to lift the four-time defending champions past a feisty Brew Crew, who nearly turned the tide with what would have been the game-tying three by Chiang Yu-an that missed the final buzzer by 0.1 seconds.
“We needed a big break to help us get through the first one and that was exactly what we got tonight,” Tsai said after the game.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
He more than lived up to his two-time championship finals-MVP billing by connecting on shots that either gave his team a multi-possession lead or stopped a Taiwan Beer run in the final quarter.
The showdown between the top two clubs opened with the Brew Crew taking an early 7-2 lead with five quick points from Yu Huan-ya in the first three minutes before the Builders answered with a run of the their own to end the first quarter trailing 17-19.
Twelve points by Peng Chun-yen spearheaded an all-out attack by Pure Youth that gave them a lead of as much as five in the second quarter, only to see the Brew Crew counter with five straight points from Patrick O’Bryant.
Pure Youth finished the half with a slim 34-33 advantage.
Pure Youth dominated the offensive glass, with Darian Townes leading the way with an even dozen in the third — most of which came as a result of second-chance shots — to extend his team’s lead to six after three quarters of play.
That set up a brilliant quarter by Chiang, who took the ball strong to the hoop with eight points in the fourth to rally his team from as many as six down and briefly seize the lead before faltering in the end.
Misses from the free-throw line by the Builders, who shot just three for eight from the charity stripe kept them from sealing the game in the final minutes of play, but even that could not help Taiwan Beer get over the hump as Chiang’s desperation three was a tad too late to force an extra session.
Game 2 is today, with tip-off scheduled for 7pm.
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