Needing every ounce of effort from its players, Taiwan Beer outfought the Dacin Tigers 91-86 in overtime to take the all-important Game 1 of the playoff series at the Taipei County Gymnasium in Sinjhuang last night.
Derek Stribling scored eight of his team’s last 18 points, while Chen Shih-nian added another five, all from the free-throw line in the closing minute of the extra session to help the Brew Crew prevail.
“The two three-pointers were big in overtime,” Stribling said after the game, referring to his back-to-back threes, the former leveling the game at 81-81, before the latter gave his team the lead for good with less than two minutes to play.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
What should have been an easy win, with Taiwan Beer holding leads as large as 14 points in the second half, turned into a nasty dogfight as the Tigers crept back into the game in the fourth quarter on the strength of Byron Allen’s inside game and a brilliant switch to a zone defense by Dacin coach Chiou Da-tsong.
The Tigers had the momentum in the early minutes of overtime, with Tien Lei downing a long-range three-pointer and Chang Chih-fong getting a three-point play the old fashion way that made it 79-75.
The Brew Crew gathered their composure, however, with Ho Sho-cheng converting a clutch three of his own to bring his team to within one, before Stribling erupted for eight straight that turned the tables.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Dacin mustered a last effort in the closing seconds with Allen’s put-back basket on a missed free-throw making it a two-point (88-86) game at the 10.7 second mark.
That was as close as they got as Chen calmly converted three of the next four free-throws to hang on for the victory.
Taiwan Beer’s Lin “the Beast” Chih-jeh was a big factor early in the game with 10 first-half points, but he was plagued with foul trouble in the second half and fouled out after 4 minutes, 6 seconds of the fourth.
In the late game between Pure Youth Construction and the Yulon Luxgens was ongoing at press time.
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