Overcoming a seven-point deficit in the third quarter, the Dacin Tigers shifted into a higher gear for the fourth quarter as they rallied past Bank of Taiwan for a 76-70 victory at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City late yesterday afternoon to salvage a 2-1 mark in the three games played over the weekend.
Lin Yi-hui awoke from a quiet first half to rack up 17 points in the second half, 10 of which came in the decisive fourth, to help the Big Cats avoid what would have been an embarrassing loss to the last-place Bankers.
“This is the kind of game that helps remind us that anyone can beat you in this league,” Lin said after the game.
Photo courtesy of the SBL
His pair of clutch three-pointers in the fourth denied a late-game rally by the Bankers, who nearly pulled off the upset of the week with a superior start to the game that saw them enjoy a two-point advantage over the heavily favored Big Cats.
“I guess we aren’t too used to playing with a lead, so that’s something we’ll try to work on in the future,” Bank of Taiwan captain Chen Hsuen-hsiang said after the game.
His team led by as many as seven points midway through the third quarter, before they squandered the lead toward the latter part of the quarter.
With the win, the Big Cats maintained their half-game lead over third-place Taiwan Beer, who also won, in their hot pursuit of a postseason berth as the two teams head into the home stretch with only a handful of games remaining in the regular season.
TAIWAN BEER 92, LEOPARDS 85
Red-hot Taiwan Beer picked up where they left off in Saturday night’s blowout win over the Tigers with a seven-point triumph over the Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards in the early game yesterday afternoon to sweep through the weekend in flying colors with a perfect mark.
Kibwe Trim did as he pleased with a 10-point first quarter to propel the Brew Crew to an early double-digit lead. That, coupled with an 11-0 run early in the second quarter, proved more than the Leopards could handle as they trailed nearly the entire game en route to the disappointing loss.
Trim left the game early with a cut on his chin, leaving the scoring burden to Yang “Amis Warrior” Jing-min, who came on strong in the second half with 15 points to lead all scorers with 26 points.
LUXGENS 94, PURE YOUTH 85
The Yulon Luxgens pulled off a mild upset win over top-ranked Pure Youth Construction as they roughed up the Builders with a tremendous second half to pocket a nine-point victory and snap a two-game losing skid.
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