Chou Shih-yuan’s put-back with time expiring broke an 85-all tie to help the Yulon Luxgens rally from 13 down in the fourth to escape with an 87-85 win over Kinmen Liquor at the Taipei Municipal Gymnasium on Sunday night.
The rebound off the offensive glass came as a surprise for Chou because all the Kinmen Liquor players had mistaken the shot-clock buzzer for the game buzzer, leaving the Yulon guard an uncontested basket for the dramatic win.
“We got really lucky tonight,” a much-relieved Yulon skipper Chang Hsueh-lei said after the game.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
After the game some Kinmen Liquor players were still in disbelief.
“The last shot wasn’t the killer; we should’ve never allowed them [Luxgens] back in the game at the first place,” coach Luo Tien-jin said.
What was supposed to be an easy win over Kinmen Liquor turned into a dogfight as the Luxgens found themselves trailing from the start on an incredible 11-point quarter by Kinmen Liquor’s Cheng Ren-wei that helped his team to a 23-14 lead.
Kinmen Liquor ended the first half with a formidable 45-33 lead only to see the Luxgens fight back with a strong third quarter, narrowing the lead to three heading into the fourth.
A 10-2 run by Kinmen Liquor in the early minutes of the fourth brought its lead up to 13 before the Luxgens rallied again for the win.
TAIWAN BEER 92, LEOPARDS 85
Taiwan Beer continued its streak by rolling past the Taiwan Mobile Leopards in a 92-85 decision on Sunday to cap a 2-0 weekend.
It was the third straight win and eighth in nine games for the defending champs as they bombarded the Leopards’ zone defense with 11 threes on 25 attempts.
Leading the way for the potent Taiwan Beer attack was forward Yang Jing-min, whose game-high 28 points upped his league-leading scoring average to 21.6 points per game, more than two points over the next-best player.
Also starring for the Beer crew was center Wu Dai-hao, who muscled his way inside the paint for 16 points and nine rebounds.
The loss by the free-falling Leopards marked their fifth straight and eighth in nine games as their midseason slump continues.
PURE YOUTH 94, BANK OF TAIWAN 77
Scoring 94 points for the second straight game, Pure Youth Construction finished the weekend strongly with a rout of Bank of Taiwan on Sunday afternoon.
The win, coupled with the tough loss by Kinmen Liquor, propelled the builders past Kinmen Liquor from fifth to fourth place in the standings, further fueling the intense race between the two clubs for the fourth and final playoff spot.
Pure Youth opened the game with a 25-14 run in the first quarter behind a stellar eight-point effort by center Jien Jia-hong, never looking back as they held leads as large as 20 en route to the easy win.
The Bankers’ loss sent them back to reality after their upset win over the Leopards on Friday in just their second “W” of the season.
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