Bank of Taiwan played nearly 40 minutes of excellent basketball against the Yulon Dinos in Round 1 action of the Super Basketball League postseason before falling short 83-77 at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Friday.
The underdogs answered every challenge that the two-time defending champs dealt them up until the final minute, when point guard Jien Ming-fu's miss on a would-be game-tying three-pointer with 43 seconds remaining, followed by Dinos guard Chen Chih-chung's game-clinching 3-point shot that gave the Dinos a win.
Led by Chu Yong-hong's 10 first-quarter points from inside the paint, the bankers took a 21-20 lead after the opening quarter before the Dinos fought back with a solid second quarter to claim a 40-38 advantage at the half.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SBL
The two teams traded leads several times in a seesaw battle during the third quarter that ended with the Dinos up by a deuce before they finally pulled away in the end on Chen's late-game heroics for the win.
All-Star center Tseng Wen-ding led a strong Dinos inside attack with a game-high 27 points and 10 rebounds. The balanced Dinos offense also featured three other players in double-digit scoring to keep the bankers' defense honest throughout the game.
As for the financial wizards, the strong physical presence of Chu and power forward Yueh Ying-li inside the paint amounting to a 12-6 rebounding edge off the offensive glass, but it was not enough to deliver the win.
Tigers, 96, Taiwan Beer 73
A "Beastless" Taiwan Beer squad was no match for the Dacin Tigers, as it dropped Game 1 of the best-of-five series by a wide margin to trailing the Tigers 1-0 in the other first round game on Friday.
Suffering from an ankle injury last weekend, Taiwan Beer's top scorer Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh did not take part in Friday's action, taking with him his usual 20-plus points per game.
The Tigers showed no mercy, jumping to a 27-13 first-quarter lead before closing out the first half ahead 61-31.
The brew crew attempted to chip away at the Tigers' lead early in the third quarter with an inside attack from forward Shang Wei-fang, whose seven points in the quarter trimmed the lead to as few as 25. But the Tigers were able to answer every brewers' run with an equalizer of their own to keep the cushion at 30 points by the end of the third quarter.
Five different Tigers players ended the night with double-digit scoring, led by guard Chang Chih-fong's game-high 22. Guard Wang Chih-chuin and forwards Tien Lei, Chen Tsu-wei and Lin Yi-hui rounded out the list.
Shang was the lone Taiwan Beer player that broke into double-digit scoring with 15 points.
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