Chen Chih-chung scored a post-season career-high 27 points and Lu Cheng-rue knocked down a key three-pointer that killed a late-game rally by the Dacin Tigers as the Yulon Luxgens went on to win Game 4 of the Championship Finals 87-81 at the Taipei County Gymnasium in Sinjhuang last night.
The victory gave the three-time champions a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, leaving them one win shy of clinching their fourth SBL title in seven seasons.
“We knew a big win tonight would give us a tremendous advantage, so we gave it all we got,” Chen said after the game.
His game-high 27 points led a balanced Yulon attack that placed five different players in double-digit scoring.
Also starring was Chen’s backcourt teammate Lee Hsueh-lin, whose 11 points in the fourth quarter kept a ferocious Dacin rally at bay in a game where the Luxgens led by up to 17 points in the first half, before allowing the defending champions to pull within a deuce in the closing minutes of the contest.
Solid inside plays by the Luxgens’ Tseng Wen-ding and the Tigers’ Byron Allen highlighted the first seven minutes of the match, with the former scoring six and the latter netting eight of their team’s first dozen points.
However, the Luxgens pulled off an 8-2 run late in the first quarter to lead it 25-16 after one quarter of play.
Chen’s 13 points in the second quarter helped the Luxgens up their lead to a dozen at halftime, before the Tigers roared back with a strong third in which Allen dominated against a foul-troubled Tseng to cut the deficit to four by the end of the quarter.
After the Luxgens steadily increased their lead back to seven, with Lee converting his second three-pointer of the quarter at the 2 minute, 50 seconds mark, the Tigers went on a 4-0 run in the next minute to make it a three-point game again.
However, Lu’s rally-killing three with 50.3 seconds on the game clock pushed the Luxgens’ lead up to 82-76, a lead they would not relinquish en route to the win.
With their backs to the wall, the Tigers must come up big in tonight’s Game 5, scheduled for 7pm in Sinjhuang, where a win would force a Game 6 tomorrow, while another loss would crown the Luxgens as the new rulers of the SBL.
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