Chou Shih-yuan's 18-for-29 shooting (62.1 percent) from the floor, along with his nine rebounds and five steals over the two-game span in last week's Super Basketball League action landed the Yulon Dinos' small forward this season's first Player of the Week honor.
In the absence of former team leader Chen "Airman" Hsin-an (sitting out the entire season due to a contract dispute) and an injured starting center Tseng Wen-ding, the third-year standout from the Taipei Physical Education College was able to take charge of the Dinos' offense and make the key plays to help Yulon win its first two games of the season by a combined margin of seven points.
"Chou has really matured nicely for us, as far as his mental toughness is concerned," Yulon coach Lee Yun-kuan said after Chou's fine play had helped the Dinos beat YMY in overtime last Sunday.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE SBL
Chou's ability to fill in for Chen and complement All-Star center Tseng's inside game with his outside shooting will undoubtedly play a key role in the Dinos' quest to win their third straight league title.
"It's a great honor to win the award," Chou said. "Along with the honor comes the pressure to keep my game up. So I will continue to push myself to the limit so that I can do my best in every game."
Next up for Chou and his Dinos teammates are the Videoland Hunters in Game 3 (7pm) of today's triple-header at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium, which should be a treat as the two unbeaten squads go head-to-head for the first time this season.
Judging from the narrow margin of the Dinos' win over an inexperienced YMY club and the Hunters' one-point triumph over Taiwan Beer last week, the game will probably go down to the wire, with the Dinos holding a slight advantage.
How well can the Hunters' frontcourt trio (Lai Guo-hong, Lee Chi-yi, and Lin Hsin-hua) handle the inside play of Dinos' Tseng in the early going will determine if the Hunters will try to run with the Dinos in a high-scoring game or if they will stick with a controlled half-court game with a score in the low seventies.
Also on the tap in today's action-packed schedule is the contest between Taiwan Beer and Bank of Taiwan (3pm) and the showdown between the Dacin Tigers and the ETTV Antelopes (5pm).
Fresh off a disheartening 77-76 loss to the Hunters last week, the brew crew will look to let off some steam with its fast-paced offense that features the league's top scorer in Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh and outside threat Ho Sho-cheng against a speedy, yet disorganized Bank of Taiwan squad.
Keeping the number of turnovers to under 15 for both team will be the storyline in this game as the team with few mistakes will likely come out ahead in an expected high-scoring affair.
As for the match between the Tigers and the Antelopes, it should be all Tigers from the opening tip-off as the shorthanded Antelopes face a Tien Lei-led Dacin lineup that can do it all on both ends of the floor.
The Antelopes are without the services of Chen Hsin-an, who is involved in a contract dispute, and All-Star center Wu Dai-hao, who has left the team to play basketball for Brigham Young University in the NCAA.
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