The Videoland Hunters tied a club record for the longest winning streak by topping the Dacin Tigers in an 87-72 decision at the Taipei Physical Education College Gym-nasium on Saturday afternoon for their fifth straight victory.
In a game in which they never trailed, the Hunters, the lone unbeaten squad in the league, opened fire on the stunned Tigers with a 14-4 run in the first quarter on the strength of two fast-break buckets and an inside attack that featured premier scorer Jonathan Sanders at the low post to build a comfortable 23-16 lead through the first quarter.
Another fine all-around effort by the Hunters during the second quarter would help them claim a sizable 44-31 cushion at the half, despite the fact that the Tigers shot better than 50 percent from the field during the first half.
The Hunters' dominance continued in the third quarter where they upped the lead by as many as 21 points, thanks to shooting guard Yang Tseh-yi's 10 big points from the floor in the quarter, making the final quarter a mere formality in the convincing win.
Four different players scored in double digits for the Hunters. Sanders led the pack once again with 21 points, 12 rebounds and three assists.
Yang also chipped in 18 points on the night with fellow center Lai Guo-hong netting a dozen.
As for the Tigers, Tien Lei had his usual double-double night with 24 points and 15 boards, both game-highs for skipper Liu Jia-fa. Tien was followed by Wang, who poured in 23 for his team, with five three-pointers, in a losing effort.
Bank of Taiwan 96 Antelopes 83
Bank of Taiwan had little trouble against the ETTV Antelopes in the second game on Saturday, with five players scoring in double figures in a balanced attack en route to a 96-83 win.
The bankers snapped a two-game losing skid by beating the Antelopes with superior shooting from the floor, hitting 35 of 73 total shots (48 percent) to overcome their 21 turnovers in the game.
The Antelopes played evenly with the bankers for the first quarter and slowly let their opponents have their way in a sloppy second quarter, which saw the bankers leading by eight (46-38) heading into the intermission.
A forgettable third quarter for the Antelopes in which they were held to 13 points by the bankers' defense spotted Bank of Taiwan a 20-plus point advantage, a lead they would not surrender the rest of the way.
Even though the Antelopes finally erupted for 32 fourth quarter points, it was too little too late as they experienced their fourth loss in five games.
Yang Jing-min led the bankers with 17 points on the night in his best performance of the season.
With US forward Delvin Thomas sitting out with an injury, Ou-Yang Jin-hehn's 19 points provided the Antelopes with their lone highlight.
Eagles 75, Dinos 95
Behind Chou Shih-yuan's season-high 31 points, the Yulon Dinos crushed the Azio Eagles by a whopping 95-75 margin for their second win in a row.
The Eagles showed no signs of intimidation early against the defending champs by dictating the tempo of the game in a well-played first quarter and actually led the Dinos 24-20 at one point.
But that was as close as the Dinos would allow the Eagles to get as they outscored a young Azio squad 24-15 during the second quarter to jump back on top 44-39 at the half.
A hard-fought third quarter saw the Dinos increase their lead to double digits with Chou scoring at will and the Eagles responding with a 7-2 run of their own late in the quarter to keep deficit within 10.
In the fourth quarter, the Dinos offense finally awoke with 31 points to put the game away.
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday pulled off a major upset in the DFB-Pokal by defeating defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 in their semi-final. The third-division team came from behind after Jonathan Tah gave the visitors a 17th-minute lead. Marius Worl replied three minutes later and Maximilian Groser scored Bielefeld’s second goal just before the break. The home team looked more likely to add to that tally as the Leverkusen players looked jaded. “I’m just proud of this team,” Bielefeld coach Mitch Kniat said as most of the fans the small stadium sang around him. “No one will sleep in the city tonight.” Patrik Schick went
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS