Playing near-flawless ball in the second half, Bank of Taiwan overcame a six-point deficit in the third quarter and rallied from behind to defeat the top-ranked Dacin Tigers 67-59 at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night.
The win not only avenged a three-point loss in overtime to these same Tigers in their previous meeting, but also put the financial wizards in a great position to climb out of the cellar as they picked up win No. 3 to tie two other teams (Taiwan Beer and Kinmen Liquor) in total wins heading into this afternoon’s contests.
John Vaudreuil played his best game in nearly two years by grabbing a career-high 24 rebounds on a 12-point night for the Bankers while Hsu Chih-chiang and Chen Hsuen-hsiang accounted for 28 more to outplay the Cats in the biggest upset of the season so far.
The frontcourt trio for the Bankers more than shut down a potent Dacin offense by holding the league-leaders to a season-low 59 points, nearly 20 points short of their season average of 77.8 points per game heading into last night’s game.
Also starring for the Bankers was swingman Chung Hsiao-wen, whose reverse layup and acrobatic drive to the hoop in the third kept the Bankers in the game long enough to set the stage for their fourth-quarter run.
Bank of Taiwan also took much better care of the ball in the game-deciding second half, committing just four turnovers, compared with their usual ten-or-more per half.
“I knew if we’d take better care of the ball, we’d have a chance [at winning the game],” Bank of Taiwan skipper Lai Liang-chung said after the game.
His crew made good on his prediction by keeping their turnover total to a season-low 13 for the game as they won two of the past three convincingly against worthy opponents to give their fans something to talk about.
PURE YOUTH 97, KINMEN LIQUOR 74
Pure Youth Construction easily handled Kinmen Liquor in a 97-74 final in the second game in Sinjhuang last night.
It was the Builders’ seventh straight win, setting a new club record for longest win streak as they improved to 9-3 for the season.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS