Action continued on the second day of the Hualien Probation Cup Basketball Tournament yesterday afternoon with the Dacin Tigers humbling the Liaoning Pan Pan of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) in a 78-71 decision at the Hualien County Sports Complex.
The home side fell behind early to a ferocious Chinese inside attack that featured the twin towers of Han Deh-jun and Gu Li-yeh, who stand 215cm and 208cm respectively.
However, the Tigers problems ended in the second quarter as they connected from behind the three-point arc with four monstrous three’s in a 27-point outburst to claim a 42-36 advantage at the half.
The lead proved sufficient for the Tigers as they carried the red-hot three-point shooting into the second half by converting five more from long range in addition to a solid game from newcomer Vincent James.
He made several clutch shots in the half to lead his new team past the mainly-inside Chinese attack for the thrilling victory.
“The three’s and Vincent [James] really carried us today,” Dacin skipper Chiou Da-tsong said after the game.
Chiou knew that without the long perimeter game and his newly acquired foreign help, his side would have been in big trouble against a larger Chinese lineup.
The Tigers also paid the price of nearly fouling out both of their big men, Lee Fong-yong and the 201cm American James, in an effort to stop the Chinese inside attack.
Four players scored in double digits for the Tigers, led by James’ game-high 16, while the Pan Pan’s Han muscled his way to 14 points on the night.
TAIWAN BEER 95, YULON LUXGENS 82
Averaging nearly 25 points per quarter, Taiwan Beer ran the Yulon Luxgens off the court in yesterday’s late game for their first triumph of the tournament.
Towering Taiwanese-American Doug Creighton, Yang Yu-ming and Ha Hsiao-yuan teamed up to account for most of the Brew Crew’s rapid-firing offense, with Yang nailing back-to-back three’s in the closing moments of the contest to finish off the defending SBL champs in grand style.
The defeat left the Luxgens with 1-1 record after their win against the Sichuan Jin Qiang on the opening day.
All six teams will take be in action today to close out the preliminary rounds, with the top finishers in each of the three-team groups set to play in tomorrow morning’s semi-finals for a chance to play in tomorrow night’s title game.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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