Bank of Taiwan were a dozen points better than the Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards at the National Taiwan University of Physical Education and Sport Gymnasium in Taichung yesterday afternoon, running away with an 86-74 victory to close out the weekend on a high note.
The win evened the Bankers’ weekly mark at 1-1 after they dropped a heartbreaker to top-ranked Pure Youth Construction in an 80-77 decision on Friday night to deal a big blow to their chances of reaching the post-season.
Chou Bo-hsun held nothing back against his former college coach and current Leopards skipper Chia Fan as the Bankers first-round pick put up a season-high 22 points and 14 rebounds to rough up the Leopards, who managed to edge past Taiwan Beer the night before in a one-point thriller, but failed to make it two wins a row in a game they were favored to win.
Also starring for the Bankers were Joseph Taylor and Chen Hsuan-shiang, with the former netting a team-high 24 points and the latter chipping in 14 to account for the bulk of their team’s total offense.
It was Taylor’s nine points in the third quarter that lifted the Bankers to leads as large as 16, before they held off a tenacious rally by the Leopards in the fourth quarter to keep the win intact.
Noel Felix’s team-high 22 points and 10 boards were the lone highlight for the Leopards, who failed to play as a unit despite having a star-filled lineup that included four members of the national squad.
Tigers 64, Luxgens 53
The Dacin Tigers bounced back from a tough loss to Pure Youth on Saturday night with a victory over the Yulon Luxgens in the second game in Taichung yesterday to take over the second spot in the standings.
Tsai Jung-ming came off the bench with a season-high 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers in a valiant double-double outing to propel his team past the Automakers.
It was only the second double-double performance of the season for the veteran center out of National Taiwan Normal University, who is known more for filling in for the starters in games where the outcome has already been determined, commonly referred to as “trash time,” than taking center stage for the Tigers.
Missing their starting guard Chen Chih-chung to injury, the Luxgens were a crew without a leader as they were to held to a season-low 53 points in a rather forgettable performance.
Yesterday's other result:
Pure Youth 90, Taiwan Beer 78
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