Week two action in the Super Basketball League (SBL) began on Friday evening with Taiwan Beer mesmerizing Kinmen Liquor in a 79-57 whipping and Yulon Luxgens downing Bank of Taiwan 80-68 at the Miaoli County Sports Complex.
The Beer Crew needed a big game from its defense against the high-flying Kinmen Liquor attack that had beaten Yulon Luxgens last week with superb three-point shooting. Kinmen Liquor was held to a dismal three-for-33 from behind the three-point arc to lose long before the final buzzer sounded.
“We knew it would be a tough game for us with them [Kinmen Liquor] coming off a big win and everything, but I did not expect it to be this way [blowout],” Taiwan Beer head coach Yen Jia-hua said after the game. His crew held Kinmen Liquor to only nine first-quarter points before closing out the first half with a commanding 46-19 lead that made the second half a mere formality in a Taiwan Beer triumph.
Aside from the poor three-point shooting that had been a big part of Kinmen Liquor’s offensive scheme, newcomer Shawn “the Hawk” Hawkins also got into foul trouble early with four in the first half, which kept him from realizing his potential as he would eventually foul out with under 17 minutes of playing time. His half-dozen points and one lone rebound were far from the 24-point effort that he exhibited in his Taiwan debut a week ago that helped his team pull off the big win over the Luxgens.
Offensively for the Beer Crew, the tone was set early in the game when newcomer Delvin Thomas’ eight points in the first quarter, which matched Kinmen Liquor’s total scoring for the quarter.
Also starring for Taiwan Beer was point man Chen Shih-nian, who netted a game-high 17 points with several strong drives to the hoop that tore apart the Kinmen Liquor defense.
LUXGENS 80, BANK OF TAIWAN 68
The Yulon Luxgens needed a strong fourth quarter, pulling off a 24-11 scoring run, to secure an 80-68 win over Bank of Taiwan for their second “W” of the season.
The bankers fared surprisingly well against the three-time champs through the first three quarters and actually led by as many as four early in the fourth before faltering in the final three minutes to lose this one by a dozen.
All-star center Tseng Wen-ding showed off his inside dominance against a smaller and weaker bankers’ interior defense by muscling most of his game-high 28 points in from close range to lead the way for Yulon, while shooters Chou Shih-yuan and Lu Cheng-rue knocked down 15 points apiece from the perimeters with the bankers’ defense sagging in to help defend against Tseng.
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