Overcoming early deficits as large as 14 points, the Yulon Dinos quickly rediscovered their usual flow to down the Dacin Tigers 69-63 at the Taipei County Sports Complex on Friday evening to claim a two-and-a-half-game lead over the second-place dmedia Numen in the standings.
Missing the service of all-around forward Chen "Airman" Hsin-an for the entire week owing to a knee injury, the three-time champs found themselves in an early double-digit deficit against a fired-up Dacin squad that desperately needed to win this game to keep their playoff hopes alive. But they regrouped quickly and reduce the gap to eight by going on an 8-2 run to end the first quarter trailing 15-23.
The Tigers regained a double-digit lead during the first two minutes of the second quarter before the Dinos answered with a 9-0 run of their own to cut the deficit down to three at the half.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
A sloppy third quarter by both squads that netted them only 24 combined points in the quarter saw the Dinos quietly take their first lead of the game at 53-52 with key baskets from guards Lee Hsueh-lin and Chen Chih-chung.
That was the extent to which the Tigers managed to hang with the league-leaders, as they scored only 11 points in the fourth quarter for a total of 21 second-half points to let this one slip away.
Three different Dinos players scored in double-digits on the night, with Chen Chih-chung leading the way with a game-high 20 points, followed by Yang Tseh-yi's 18 and reserve forward Chou Hong-yu's 14.
As for the Tigers, Lin Yi-hui's 20-point effort was the lone spotlight on the night as the rest of the pack played a good part of the game without the intensity that they showed in the early going, often dragging their feet in many cases.
Pure Youth 91, Bank of Taiwan 81
Pure Youth Construction had little trouble beating Bank of Taiwan 91-81 as they swept the season series 5-0 to gain a two-game lead over the Tigers for the fourth and final berth in the postseason play.
Doug Creighton of the US played his best game yet by hitting 10 of 14 from the field to amass a career-high 24 points in championing a builders' lineup that fell as far as four games below .500 as recently as January in a dramatic turnaround.
Emerging center Jien Jia-hong also continued his dominance inside the paint against a shorthanded bankers' interior defense that was missing Lin Chuin-fong and Chang Rong-hsuen with 23 points and six rare assists.
Pure Youth took a sizable 19-9 lead after the opening quarter behind Creighton's strong play and never looked back as the bankers were forced to play catch-up all game long, before eventually running out of gas to fall short by 10 in the end.
They were able to pour in 30 points in the fourth quarter compared with the builders' 24, but that did not affect the outcome of the game, as Pure Youth was in control the entire way.
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