The Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards held off an all-out rally by Taiwan Beer in the final three minutes of play to escape with an 85-80 win at the Kaohsiung Fengshan Gymnasium last night after nearly squandering an 18-point first-half lead.
Luke Nevill played his best game of the season by far with 23 points and 14 rebounds, several of which came during the crucial final minutes to keep the Leopards from dropping what would have been an embarrassing defeat to a resilient Taiwan Beer squad.
Also starring for the Leopards was Liu Sheng-yao, whose eight-point first half propelled his team to an early 30-17 advantage, which was barely enough to fend off the Brew Crew.
Photo courtesy of the SBL
Even though Taiwan Beer lost the game, their relentless attitude must have left a deep impression on the Leopards and the rest of the league as they chipped away at the deficit to get within three of the Leopards with less than two minutes to go before Nevill stepped up with a clutch bucket.
Emerging star Liu Chan also had a big day for Taiwan Beer with a team-high 21 points and four steals to solidify his status as one of the top defenders in the league. Other than a horrendous 1-for-4 shooting at the free-throw line, the third-year forward was virtually unstoppable, attacking the basket with several runaway slams.
PURE YOUTH 90, BANK OF TAIWAN 67
Top-ranked Pure Youth Constructions cruised past Bank of Taiwan in Kaohsiung yesterday afternoon to extend their winning streak to five straight.
The two-time defending champs took advantage of a 13-0 run midway through the opening quarter to help them attain a 26-16 lead and never looked back as they outplayed the Bankers in every facet of the game to walk away with a convincing victory.
Leading the way for the Builders was Quincy Davis who championed a foursome of double-digit scorers with a team-high 14 points in less than 23 minutes of play, giving the deep Pure Youth bench plenty of floor time to tune up for today’s showdown against Taiwan Beer.
Winless in their last 13 meetings dating back to 2011, the Bankers managed to hang with the Builders for the first few minutes of the contest, but reverted to their old form with several ill-advised passes.
LUXGENS 72, TIGERS 74
The Dacin Tigers also overcame a double-digit deficit in the first half with a solid fourth quarter to edge past the Yulon Luxgens in the nightcap game in Kaohsiung last night.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
RSS