Top-ranked Taiwan Beer made it three in a row with a convincing 92-74 triumph over the Yulon Luxgens in Game 3 of the semi-final playoffs at the Sinjhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City last night to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Yang Jing-min led all scorers with 32 points on the night, highlighted by a 17-point first quarter that helped the Brew Crew take a surprising 33-14 lead in the opening period.
The defending champions kept the Taiwan Beer offense to a low dozen, while netting 15 of their own to reduce the deficit by three at the half, before unleashing an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to nine by the end of the third.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Yulon reduced Taiwan Beer’s lead further to just four (65-61), with Lee Chih-yi and Yang Tseh-yi combining for five unanswered points early in the fourth, but that was as close as they got as Yang Jing-min and Cheng Ren-wei promptly knocked down a pair of clutch shots each to allow the Beer to reclaim a double-digit advantage that they would not relinquish en route to the blowout win.
“I’m glad we did not allow them to come back in the fourth as we did in the first two games and that is an improvement,” Taiwan Beer forward Cheng said after the game.
His team can sweep the series with another win this evening.
Failure to achieve good ball movement on their half-court offense ultimately cost Yulon the game as they managed a meager eight assists the entire contest, compared to Taiwan Beer’s 21, exposing the weakness in their passing game.
With their backs against the wall, the Luxgens will try to keep their title hopes alive in a do-or-die Game 4 in Sinjhuang this evening, where a loss will end their quest to retain their title and send them packing for the off-season.
Tigers 76, Pure Youth 67
The Dacin Tigers also won their third straight game in the other semi-final playoff series, with a nine-point victory over Pure Youth Construction to lead the series 3-0.
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