Tue, Dec 30, 2003 page20

• Dinos sink Beer to remain unbeaten

  ROUNDUP An inspired third quarter from Lin `the Monster' Chih-jeh failed to kick start the Taiwan Beer as Yulon Dinos held on to their 100 percent record

  • By Paul Huang / CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
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  More than 3,300 fans packed the Taipei Sports Education College Arena on Friday night to see the Yulon Dinos beat the Taiwan Beer by 90 points to 78.

  For three periods the game, which featured media darling Chen Hsin-an (陳信安) of the Dinos, and Lin "the Monster" Chih-jeh (林志傑) of Taiwan Beer, lived up to its top billing as the duo wowed the house with some fine individual displays. Chen got the show rolling with an outstanding nine-point first period that helped build a 20-point, first-half lead for the Dinos.

  Then the Monster awoke to score three straight three-pointers in the third (18 points for the period) to erase the 20-point first-half deficit and actually take a 66-65 lead before the third buzzer. Lin's hot hands would cool off in the final period as a tightened Dino defense disrupted his shooting rhythm.

  A few key misses by Lin, coupled with an excellent performance from the free-throw line by the Dinos, put the game out of reach for Taiwan Beer in the final minutes of the contest. The victory extended the Dino's winning streak to six and kept its undefeated record (6-0) intact, widening its lead over the BCC Mars to 2.5 games.

  Sina 76, BCC 50

  As expected against a porous Mars defense, Sina Lion center Huang Chuen-hsiung (黃春雄) had a field day inside the paint as the Lions' slaughtered the Mars on Saturday night.

  The 2m veteran turned in his second double-double performance of the season by scoring 22 points and grabbing 12 hard-fought boards (both game-highs) en route to the game-MVP honor.

  The usually high-powered Mars attack hit a bump in the second half, putting up only 19 points in its lowest-scoring match of the season. Converting only one of its 14 three-point attempts, the league's offense (averaging over 86 points a contest prior to this game) was never in sync against a stingy Lion defense that forced 22 turnovers.

  The win ran the Lion's winning streak to three and evened their season mark to .500, following a miserable 0-3 start.

  Bank of Taiwan 74, Jeoutai 81

  Miscues from the charity stripe cost Bank of Taiwan the victory in Game 1 of Sunday's doubleheader. The poor 16-for-28 mark turned what would have been a solid win to a seven-point defeat, tying Bank of Taiwan with the Jeoutai Elephants for the last place spot in league standings.

  As usual, the physical Bank of Taiwan squad crashed the boards on both ends of the floor, gaining a nine-rebound edge. However, the 25 turnovers proved to be insurmountable, despite a decent defensive effort that forced 24 Elephant turnovers.

  The storyline of the game was the stellar performance by Elephant reserve forward Shang Wei-fang (尚韋帆), whose 13-point outing and fearless defensive play down low promptly bailed out fellow starters Wu Dai-hao (吳岱豪) and Ha Hsiao-yuan (哈孝遠), who were troubled by personal fouls throughout the game.

  "His [Shang's] play tonight made us miss Yang Yu-ming (楊玉明) less, and that's great news for a one-man team like us," Elephant skipper Liu Hua-lin (劉華 林) said after his top offensive threat (Yang, averaging over 18 points per game) sat out the game due to an unspecified injury.

  Taiwan Beer 61, Dacin 65

  Game 2 on Sunday between Taiwan Beer and the Dacin Tigers showcased the top two scorers in league: Lin Chih-jeh of the Beer and Tien Lei (田壘) of the Tigers.

  The Tigers came out firing in the first half, opening up a 16-point half-time lead over the Monster-led Beer men, who may have been tired from their earlier loss against the Dinos. Never losing their composure, the Beer men would rally in the second half, reducing a 20-point Tiger lead to just three with 33 seconds left on the game clock.

  That, however, was as close as Taiwan Beer would get, because guard Chen Shih-nian's (陳世念) pass went wide in Taiwan Beer's final possession with 16 seconds left to play, sealing the victory for the Tigers. The ill-advised pass came after Chen Shih-nian had successfully stolen the ball from the Tigers in what could have been a game-tying play for Taiwan Beer.
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