Riding Luo "the Natural" Hsin-liang's red-hot three-point shooting on a five-for-eight night, Taiwan Beer overcame a 12 point, fourth-quarter deficit to edge past the Dacin Tigers in a 92-89 triumph at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Sunday.
The 35-year-old veteran guard rose to the occasion with two clutch three's and a pair of long inbound passes to teammate Ho Sho-cheng for two easy scores in the final quarter to help the beer crew win its third straight in front of a sellout crowd.
"Someone had to pick up the slack with the game on the line," head coach Yen Jia-hua said after the game, referring to his prized off-season acquisition from the Azio Eagles (formerly YMY).
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Yen could not have been more correct because Luo's experience and ability to lead the previously-inconsistent beermen was the missing piece of the puzzle that finally arrived this year.
The game began with the Tigers netting four three-pointers against a soft Taiwan Beer defense before the beer crew picked its game up a notch to finish out the opening quarter with a 28-21 lead.
Taiwan Beer would continue its dominance in the second quarter with top scorer Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh and Luo firing four combined three's to take a 49-35 lead before the Tigers roared back on the power forward Yao Jung-jeh's low-post moves and point guard Su Yi-jeh buzzer-beating three-pointer to fall within eight of Taiwan Beer (49-41) at the half.
Yao's dozen points in the third quarter alone would spark a Tigers rally that actually put them ahead 73-69 by the end of the quarter before they increased the cushion to as many as 12 points early in the fourth.
But Taiwan Beer had the last laugh, with Luo leading the way by scoring the game's final 10 points to clinch the comeback victory.
Hunters 114, Bank of Taiwan 97
The Videoland Hunters set a club record winning streak by topping Bank of Taiwan in a 114-97 shootout on Sunday night for their sixth win in a row.
Clearly playing head-and-shoulder above the rest of the pack, the league leaders remained unbeaten in all six contests of the season thus far, thanks to another outstanding performance from American forward Jonathan Sanders who racked up a season-high of 37 points and 20 rebounds for his second double-20 outburst of the year.
Also starring for the Hunters were fastbreak finisher Yang Tseh-yi, who shot an impressive seven-for-10 from the floor, and power forward Lee Chi-yi, with 18 and 16 points respectively to make this one a foregone conclusion with the Hunters enjoying a 60-37 lead by the end of the first half.
As for the Bankers, who closed out the three-game week with a dismal 1-2 record, the lack of muscle and depth in their frontcourt was fully exploited by Sanders whose ten offensive rebounds hurt the Bankers.
Dinos 80, Antelopes 78
The ETTV Antelopes' attempt to make it a 2-win weekend fell two points short as they dropped an 80-78 heartbreaker to the Yulon Dinos in Sunday's nightcap.
Tseng Wen-ding's dominance inside the paint proved too much for the Antelopes to handle in the final quarter as the Dinos all-star center collected eleven of his team-high 28 points (also a season-high for Tseng) in the last leg to fend off a fierce Antelopes comeback.
Inability to punch the ball inside by the Antelopes in the absence of hired gun Delvin Thomas (still nursing a knee injury he suffered in the season-opening game on Jan, 7) made the job for the Dinos defense much easier as it ganged up on Antelopes shooting guard Yang Yu-ming, whose game-high 30 points nearly pulled off the upset win.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Liverpool on Tuesday suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Andre’s stoppage-time strike sealed a dramatic victory for the English Premier League’s bottom club. Arne Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike in the closing stages at Molineux. Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool level with his first goal in 11 top-flight games dating back to November last year. However, Andre’s first goal for Wolves inflicted the latest humbling loss in a chastening season for Liverpool. It was the first time the Premier League’s bottom club had beaten the reigning champions since Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in 2017. Liverpool
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS