Pure Youth Construction stormed their way into the final for the second straight season with a convincing 85-73 win over the Yulon Luxgens in Game 6 of the semi-finals at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium in Tianmu last night, winning the best-of-seven series by a 4-2 margin.
Chen Shih-jeh played his best game of the postseason thus far, downing a game-high 21 points to lead the defending champs past a diehard Yulon squad.
“This is the Chen Shih-jeh that I am more used to seeing,” Pure Youth skipper Hsu Jin-tseh said after the game, referring to a “mini slump” that his star point guard had experienced in the first five contests of the series.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
However, with the chance to advance into the finals on the line, the series’ MVP from last year’s final made sure he rose to the occasion, netting 19 points in the first half.
“Maybe I was trying too hard over the first few games [of the semi-finals], so I stopped doing the extra workouts that I had done on top of the team practices to see if I could do better,” Chen said.
His change in strategy paid immediate dividends for the Builders as they led by double-digits for a good part of the first-half, before settling for a 43-35 advantage at the half.
In other SBL play it was:
‧ Leopards 74, Tigers 61
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