Hsin Jin-chan's clutch put-back basket with under three minutes remaining in the game gave the ETTV Antelopes a 75-73 lead they would not relinquish en route to an 87-79 win over the Azio Eagles on Friday night for the their first win of the season.
The battle between the two previously winless squads at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium had both teams trading leads in a classic seesaw affair until Hsin of the Antelopes took matters in his own hands with six of his 10 points in the game coming during the decisive final quarter.
"All we had on our mind was the big W and I glad we came through in the end," a normally soft-spoken Hsin said after the game.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
His timely big game finally delivered a much needed win for head coach Chiou Da-chung, who has been without the service of top inside threat Delvin Thomas since the the US player suffered a knee injury in the season opener on Jan. 7.
The game began with the Antelopes doing as they pleased offensively against the league's worst defense in a fast-paced first quarter. The Antelopes led 26-23 before the Eagles answered with 24 second-quarter points -- compared to the Antelopes' 19 -- to close out the first half leading 47-45.
Neither team seemed to have left the locker room during a sloppy third quarter when the Eagles were held scoreless for the first three minutes and the Antelopes shot less than 20 percent from the field, sending the game into the decisive fourth with the Antelopes up 63-62.
Five different players scored in double-figures for ETTV with shooting guard Yang Yu-ming leading the pack with a game-high 25 points.
As for the Eagles, still in search for that elusive first win at 0-5, Chang Yu-lin's 21-point effort was the lone bright spot a night the team still appeared a bit disorganized, even though they did outrebound their opponents (40 to 36) for the first time this year.
Bank of Taiwan 90, Taiwan Beer 92
Digging itself out after a dismal start, Taiwan Beer finished off strong with a solid second effort by topping Bank of Taiwan in a 92-90 final on Friday evening to improve to 4-1 for the year.
The beer men were caught dozing in the opening minutes of what they had thought to be an easy match against the bankers and actually found themselves down 16-2 before veteran guard Luo "the Natural" Hsin-liang contributed 10 of his 19 points in the game to cut the bankers' lead to 28-21 after one quarter of play.
Nine second-quarter points by Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh led a tremendous counterattack for Taiwan Beer that forced a 48-48 draw at the half.
An evenly played third quarter highlighted by three deadly three-pointers from speedy Bank of Taiwan guard Jien Ming-fu had the scale tipping slightly in favor of his club heading into the final quarter.
Luo opened the final quarter with a long-range three that triggered a 16-4 run for Taiwan Beer.
Even though the bankers would muster one final scoring spurt in the final minutes of the contest to close within two of the beer men at 90-92 at the 1:11 mark, that was as close as they got with neither team being able to score again the rest of the way.
With a Taiwan Beer defender guarding Jien closely on the bankers' final possession and the game clock winding down, Jien decided to pull up for a rushed three-point attempt, hoping to draw a trip to the free-throw line.
But the call never came as his shot bounced off the rim to end the bankers' last hope in the game.
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