Holding the four-time defending champions to 26 points in a dismal first half, second seeds Taiwan Beer humbled Pure Youth Construction 79-66 in Game 6 of SBL Finals at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night to clinch the best-of-seven series by a 4-2 margin.
The win not only gave the Brew Crew their fourth league title, tying them with the Builders and the Yulon Luxgens, but it also ended what had been a four-year Pure Youth dynasty.
Patrick O’Bryant had a monstrous double-20 day at the office with 21 points and 23 rebounds to lead the men in the familiar white and green uniforms, who dominated the Builders in every facet of the game.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
He was deservedly named the SBL Finals Most Valuable Player by league officials after the game.
“It feels very good to finally win it after all these years in Taiwan,” O’Bryant said as he savored finally claiming the title having played for Taiwan Beer for three years.
“We weren’t about to let what happened to us last year happen again this time, so we put an end to it when we could,” Taiwan Beer coach Yen Chia-hua said, referring to his team’s failure to win the title despite taking a 3-1 lead against the Builders last year.
Taiwan Beer set the tone early in the game by holding Pure Youth scoreless through the first two minutes to grab a quick 9-0 lead.
Even though the Builders tied the game 12-12 midway through the first quarter with a 12-3 run of their own, Taiwan Beer were not rattled as they answered with 10 unanswered points to take a 22-12 lead after the first quarter.
The Brew Crew then managed to increase their lead to as many as 16 points with Yu Huan-ya and Liu Cheng connecting on back-to-back three pointers, before the Builders responded again with a 14-2 run to pull within four with less than five minutes remaining in the first half.
That was the extent that the Builders were in the game as they stumbled into a sudden scoring drought that would last for the next eight minutes, including none-for-nine shooting from the field in the first three minutes of the second half, to fall behind by as many as 20 points in the third quarter.
A pair of three-pointers by Chen Tzu-wei brought Pure Youth to within 11 of Taiwan Beer with three minutes remaining in the third quarter, but that was as close as they got as the Brew Crew cruised to the title.
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