Experience came through in a big way for the Videoland Hunters over the weekend as they racked up back-to-back wins over YMY (79-74 on Saturday) and the ETTV Antelopes (72-70 on Sunday) in Taiwan's Super Basketball League preseason action at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium.
Veteran big men Lin Hsin-hua and Lee Chi-yi led the way for the Hunters with a combination of inside moves and long-range "threes," in Saturday's win over a young YMY lineup, en route to 14 and 13-point nights, respectively.
Point guard Chen Hui got off to a slow start as far as getting into the groove in the Hunters' motion offense, but managed to gain control of the game tempo in the second half to direct the Hunters half-court attack.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE SBL
As for YMY, 18-year-old power forward Jien Jia-hong showed why he could be the front-runner for the coveted rookie-of-the-year honor by downing a game-high 19 points along with a dozen rebounds.
His YMY could have folded when it fell behind by more than ten points mid-way through the fourth quarter, but instead, the resilient group of youngsters fought hard to come within four of the Hunters with just under a minute to play in regulation.
Even though YMY ended up with the loss for the game, their ability to overcome a double-digit deficit in the final quarter convinced both Hunters headman Chou Hai-rong and the rest of the league that they will not go away quietly in this year's play, despite a dismal 3-27 record from last season.
Hunters 72, Antelopes 70
Lin Hsin-hua carried his red-hot shooting touch into Sunday's contest versus the ETTV Antelopes with a team-high 15-point effort to help his club hunt down the previously unbeaten Antelopes in a 72-70 final.
The men with the rifles had the upper hand after a sloppily played first quarter (15-10) before the Antelopes answered with a dominating, 27-point second quarter to head into the halftime intermission leading 37-34.
Neither squad was able to take leads greater than four points in a low-scoring third quarter, but the Hunters would regain a 53-52 advantage after three quarters of play behind a slew of three-pointers in a rapid-fire mode.
It was not until veteran small forward Yang Tseh-yi's three-pointer with under two minutes to play that gave the Hunters an eight-point lead and the eventual victory.
Antelopes 90, Tigers 77
The ETTV Antelopes jumped to an early 21-19 lead and never looked back as they beat last season's runner-up, the Dacin Tigers, in an impressive 90-77 win on Saturday.
The absence of all-star center Wu Dai-hao, who opted to play for an American university in the offseason, and team icon Chen Hsin-an, whose controversial contract dispute left him without a team for the season, was not a factor in the Antelopes' preseason debut as they dominated the cats throughout the entire contest.
Rookie small forward Cheng Ren-wei's 16 points equaled that of premier shooter Yang Yu-ming as the dynamic duo accounted for over a third of the Antelopes' total point production.
The 12-for-24 shooting for the game by the Antelopes bombers from beyond the three-point arc also made it nearly impossible for the Tigers defenders to shut down as they scored at will against the big cats.
Although many would say that the result of these preseason games does not mean much as far as the regular season goes, no one would argue that the Antelopes are a team on a mission this season, judging from the way they took on the Tigers.
"The win is a positive step for us, especially with the trouble we've had during the offseason," Antelopes coach Liu Yun-shiang said.
Taiwan Beer 80, Bank of Taiwan 53
Scoring early and often, Taiwan Beer bulldozed over an injury-plagued Bank of Taiwan squad in a lopsided 80-53 win to round out the preseason on Sunday night.
The beermen took no mercy against the short-handed bankers, who were missing their top two guns, Chu Yong-hong and Cheng En-jeh, for the game due to various injuries, by taking a 20-15 first-quarter lead and extending it to 45-25 at the half.
Bank of Taiwan was beaten so badly in every facet of the game, more than half of the initial crowd were gone by the start of the fourth quarter with Taiwan Beer upping its lead by as many as 30 points before the dust from the beer wagons finally settled.
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