The Dacin Tigers downed Taiwan Beer 90-86 at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Saturday night to extend their winning streak to five straight.
They were helped by 12 combined three-pointers by Wang Chih-chuin and Tien Lei,
The sellout crowd of 4,000-plus was treated to a classic seesaw battle that went down to the wire before the Tigers had the last laugh.
"You can live by the three's and die by the three's," Taiwan Beer head coach said after the game.
His team also netted a total of 14 three's in the contest and had one last chance to force overtime in the closing seconds with veteran guard Luo "the Natural" Hsin-liang putting up what would have been the game-tying three at the 6.6 second mark. But his grip on the ball was not firm, resulting in a miss that ultimately cost the Beer crew the game.
The hard-fought match between two of the league's most popular squads saw the Tigers jumping to a 23-20 lead after the opening quarter on the strength of five three-pointers; two apiece from Wang and Chang Chih-fong.
Taiwan Beer would return the favor in the second quarter with Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh and Ho Sho-cheng firing up 14 points, highlighted by an impressive 11-0 run, to close out the first half leading 44-39.
Tien, the Tigers' three-time league MVP winner who was held to only two first-half points, suddenly took matters into his own hands with 16 points in the third quarter to tie the game up at 66-66 heading into the fourth quarter.
The strong showing by Tien also sparked a 14-3 run for the Tigers as they took leads as large as ten points midway through the final quarter.
Taiwan Beer was forced into fouling in the interest of preserving time in the final minutes of the game. And it nearly worked as the Tigers failed to convert on four of seven free throws over a three-minute span to keep the Beer crew within striking distance with Luo sinking back-to-back three's to reduce the Tigers lead to only three points with under a minute remaining.
That was as close as Taiwan Beer got because the Tigers made three of their final four free throws to seal their win.
Three different Dacin players managed double-digit scores on the night, headed by Wang's 28 with Tien and Chang pitching in 25 and 17 respectively.
As for Taiwan Beer, the Beast's game-high 29 points with nine rebounds were not enough to deliver the "W".
Dinos 85, Bank of Taiwan 78
Chou Hong-yu more than rose to the occasion in Game one on Saturday with 19 points to help the Dinos top Bank of Taiwan 85-78 for their second win in as many days.
The veteran reserve forward was called upon by Dinos skipper Lee Yun-kuan in place of an ailing Chen "Airman" Hsin-an in a rare starting role and turned in his best effort of the season by far for the Dinos' 14th win of the year.
Poor shooting from the perimeters by both sides kept it a low-scoring affair with the Dinos taking a 19-12 lead after one quarter of play and a 31-25 lead at the half to keep the Bankers in the game.
The Bankers fought back with consecutive three's to open the third quarter and cut the Dinos lead to two before Chou scored seven in the same quarter as part of a 17-3 run to make it 56-45 in favor of the defending champs by the end of the third quarter.
Bank of Taiwan mustered one final offensive in the final quarter to fall within seven of the Dinos thanks to a brilliant effort by forward Hsu Chih-chiang.
But with time running out and the Dinos' capable ball-handlers in the game, the Bankers were left without a prayer, losing the match by seven for their fifth defeat in a row.
Five different Bankers scored 10 or more points in the game with Hsu's 18 leading the way. But that still wasn't enough to win as they fell to a dismal 4-13 record, two games ahead of the last-placed Azio Eagles.
Eagles 77, Antelopes 94
Scoring early and often, the ETTV Antelopes cruised past the Azio Eagles in a 94-77 win to keep their playoff hopes alive with the regular season nearly two-thirds complete.
The Antelopes staked an early 30-22 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back as they slowly but surely added to their lead by six, two, and one over the next three quarters to pull away.
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