Wu Yong-ren’s game-winning three-pointer with 5.8 seconds remaining in the game gave the Taiwan Mobile Leopards a 73-71 lead as they held on to defeat the top-ranked Taiwan Beer by the same score at the Taipei Gymnasium yesterday.
“All the credit should go to my teammates for not giving up and being able to get the rebound off the miss and get the ball to me one last time,” an out-of-breath Wu said after the game.
It was the second straight game in which the underdogs prevailed following an upset win by the Bank of Taiwan over Pure Youth Construction earlier in the day, treating the near-sellout crowd on hand to a pair of high-tension battles.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
What should have been an easy win for the red-hot Brew Crew, winners of their previous eight games heading into the contest, turned into a dog fight as coach Yen Jia-hua rested his starters perhaps a little more than he should have in the second quarter. That sparked a 20-12 run by the Leopards in the second to close out the first half with a surprising 43-35 lead.
Even though Taiwan Beer managed to reclaim the lead by the end of the third quarter on the strength of top scorer Yang Jing-min’s eight points in the third, it gave the Leopards the confidence they needed to pull off the improbable.
After Wu knocked down go-ahead three, Taiwan Beer actually had a chance to tie the game, but Doug Creighton missed a shot from the top of the key with the clock winding down.
Even though Emmanuel Jones got the offensive rebound to put up one final desperate attempt, neither would drop for the men in their familiar green uniforms as the Brew Crew fell short by a deuce to suffer their first defeat in almost a month in very disheartening fashion.
BANK OF TAIWAN 91, PURE YOUTH 83
Scoring a season-high 91 points, Bank of Taiwan overwhelmed Pure Youth Construction in Taipei yesterday afternoon for just their fifth victory of the season.
Hsu Chih-chiang poured in a personal-best 22 points in the first half to lead a Bankers attack that was virtually unstoppable as they shot an amazing 19-for-31 from the field in the first half to take a 50-43 lead at halftime.
Though the Bankers would cool off in the second half and allow Pure Youth back into the game, they never lost the lead as Lin Rei-kuen and Chen Jung-jeh came off the bench to score nine in the third and 10 in the fourth quarters respectively to keep the Builders’ rally at bay.
Imported star John Vaudreuil also had a big day at the office by containing Pure Youth offensive threat Rashad Jones-Jennings to 16 points and 13 rebounds, well shy of his season average, to help the Bankers to victory.
LUXGENS 80, TIGERS 73
The Yulon Luxgens squandered leads as large as 15 points, but came up big in the final minutes to oust the Dacin Tigers 80-73 in the final game at the Taipei Gymnasium last night.
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