Ouyang Jin-hehn's two clutch free throws with eight seconds remaining gave the ETTV Antelopes a 76-75 win to upset the heavily favored Taiwan Beer in Super Basketball League action at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Saturday night.
Without lead scorer Yang Yu-ming in their lineup because of a family emergency, the shorthanded Antelopes let it all hang out on a tremendous fourth-quarter effort to upend the brew crew to avoid what would have been a 0-5 sweep for the season against the men in green.
"I just told the guys to ignore the pressure and treat them like any other team," Antelopes coach Lee Yun-shiang said.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SBL
The Antelopes overcame two sizable leads -- a 12-point lead in the first quarter and a six-point lead in the final quarter -- to deal Taiwan Beer a devastating loss that cost them the second-place spot in the standings.
"This [losing to an underdog] has got to stop if we want to make a run at the title," Taiwan Beer coach Yen Jia-hua said. "They didn't even have their best man on the floor."
After grabbing an early 27-15 lead in the first quarter, the beermen fell into a serious scoring drought, putting only 11 points on the board in the second quarter to lead by just five at the half.
Tigers 106, YMY 80
Against a YMY squad that was missing its top scorer and two point guards, the Dacin Tigers bullied their way to a 106-80 victory to secure second place in the standings.
The high-flying Tigers made several long-range threes to start off the game, doubling up on YMY in a 31-15 first quarter.
Despite playing their bench players for most of the second quarter, the Tigers maintained a 20-point cushion.
The Tigers poured in the points during the second half, boosting their lead to 35 points before settling for the 106-80 final.
Team icon Tien Lei had his usual 20-plus-point game with 24, followed by guards Chang Chih-fong's 17 and Su Yi-jeh's 12.
Forward Lin Yi-hui also netted 17 points for the big cats.
Without its starting backcourt, YMY resorted to its frontcourt trio for the bulk of the scoring, with forwards Jien Jia-hong and Tsou Tsong-kai ringing up a team-high 20 and 15 points, respectively
It was YMY's 23rd consecutive loss.
The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso before their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League raised further questions about his future. Arsenal remain perfect in this season’s competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. The clash between Madrid and City was the standout game of the round amid reports this week that Alonso had lost control of the locker room. Speculation over his position is likely to intensify after the latest
‘HIGH STANDARD’: The Thunder are on track for a Finals-Cup double after they scored 22 three-pointers in equaling the best 25-game start to a season in NBA history The Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday bagged a 16th straight victory, thrashing the Phoenix Suns 138-89 to romp into an NBA Cup semi-final clash with the San Antonio Spurs, who stunned the Los Angeles Lakers 132-119. NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points to lead the reigning NBA champions Thunder, who improved to 24-1 to equal the best 25-game start to a season in league history. They dominated from start to finish to book their place in the final four of the in-season tournament in Las Vegas, where they are tomorrow to take on the Spurs. The New York Knicks and
TOP OF THE TABLE: Evann Guessand put the visitors ahead early in the game and Flavius Daniliuc equalized before Youri Tielemans got the winner in the second half Aston Villa on Thursday extended their winning streak to eight games in all competitions with a 2-1 victory against Basel in the UEFA Europa League to secure at least a playoff spot. Villa were tied with Olympique Lyonnais, who beat Go Ahead Eagles 2-1, and Midtjylland, 1-0 winners over Genk, atop the standings of the second-tier European competition on 15 points with five wins from six games. They have bounced back from a poor start to the season and are third in the Premier League, including a 2-1 victory over leaders Arsenal on Saturday. At St Jakob-Park in Basel, summer signing Evann Guessand
The Kashima Antlers won a record-extending ninth Japanese title on the final day of the J. League season yesterday, holding their nerve to beat the Yokohama F. Marinos 2-1. Watched by Brazilian legend and former player Zico, the Antlers went into the game at their packed home stadium with a one-point lead over Kashiwa Reysol in the table. A goal in either half from Brazilian striker Leo Ceara put the Antlers in control, but Yokohama struck in the first of five minutes of second-half injury time to set up a nail-biting finale, with Reysol winning their game 1-0. The Antlers saw out the
RSS