Jonathan Sanders made a big splash on Sunday with his first triple-double outing, propelling the dmedia Numen (5-1) to an upset 94-81 win over Taiwan Beer at the National Taiwan College of Physical Education in Taichung.
The all-purpose US forward, who made a name for himself with the Videoland Hunters (currently the Taiwan Mobile Leopards) last season with an unusual instinct for the ball, racked up an incredible 17 points, 16 rebounds and 17 assists to claim the distinction as the second player in the league to accomplish the feat. The first was Wang Chih-chuin of the Dacin Tigers, who did it three seasons ago.
"It's great to be able to get the triple-double, but the most important thing is that we won the game," Sanders said after the game, keeping his priorities straight after his team took sole possession of the second-place spot in the league standings, behind the undefeated Yulon Dinos.
PHOTO: SBL
Red-hot shooter Ou Yang Jing-hen also had a huge game for the Numen with 22 points for his fourth straight 20-plus game in five.
Playing without their top two inside forces, Wu Dai-hao and Ha Hsiao-yuan, who are sidelined with injuries, the beer crew relied on the perimeter games of the Amis Tribe connection, consisting of Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh and Yang Jing-min, for the bulk of the scoring to take a narrow 24-22 lead after the first quarter of play.
Then things took a drastic turn south as they were held to nine points during a dreadful second while the Numen continued their offensive output over a 22-0 run to lead it 49-33 at the half.
Even though Taiwan Beer would knock down several three's in the early going of the third to cut the dmedia lead down to under 10, that was as close as it got with Sanders always finding the opened man against double-team coverage to keep the Taiwan Beer rally at bay.
Dinos 82, Leopards 76
The Taiwan Mobile Leopards surprised the Yulon Dinos by scoring 20 points in the opening quarter against the Dinos' 12, but failed to sustain their level of play the rest of the way as they fell prey to a vicious Dinos three-point attack and lost 82-76.
Five different Dinos converted from behind the three-point line for 14 long-range thre's, highlighted by forward Lu Cheng-rue's career-high seven on a 23-point effort to frustrate the Leopards defense all game long.
While the Leopards managed to play a sound second half offensively against the top defense in the league with 47 points, the miserable second quarter in which they were held to nine points against the Dinos' 21 proved too much for them to overcome.
The victory by the Dinos extended their winning streak to seven in a row as they completed a tough three-game weekend to take a 1.5 game lead over the second-placed dmedia Numen.
Pure Youth 83, Bank of Taiwan 60
Pure Youth Constructions bounced back nicely from a disheartening two-point loss on Saturday with a convincing 83-60 blowout win over Bank of Taiwan on Sunday for their second win of the season.
The builders celebrated the return of Jien Jia-hong and James Mao, their top two scorers through the first five games who missed Saturday's action to nurse an injury, by getting the ball to them early and often.
And Jien and Mao promptly rewarded their teammates' unselfish style of play with 11 and 12 points respectively, to bring Pure Youth back on the winning track.
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