Taiwan Beer easily handled Bank of Taiwan in a 66-50 final at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night to jumpstart the new year in grand fashion.
Patrick O’Bryant showed off his height (2.13m) and a surprisingly effective perimeter game by connecting from downtown and hitting several mid-range jumpers on a game-high, 23-point night with 13 rebounds to lead the victorious Brew Crew.
It was the fourth-straight contest that the former NBA baller out of Bradley University in the US scored 20 or more points, as he continued to dominate the opposing defense, while holding his ground on defense.
Photo: Courtesy of the SBL
Taiwan Beer opened the game with a 10-3 run over the first three minutes and quickly doubled the advantage to 14 points by the end of the quarter with a 21-7 score.
Even though the Bankers answered with a 10-6 run of their own in the opening minutes of the second quarter to pull within 10 points of the men in their familiar green uniforms, the Brew Crew promptly returned the favor with a 6-0 run before settling for a 33-20 lead at the half.
Another 6-0 run by Taiwan Beer to start the second half gave them their biggest lead at 39-20 three minutes into the third.
The Bankers managed to reduce the lead to nine, with Hsu Chih-chiang leading a 10-0 run midway through the third, but that was as close as they got, as Taiwan Beer came up big with several run-stopping buckets against the Bankers to keep a double-digit cushion the rest of the way.
Poor shot selection, coupled with an inability to secure the defensive glass that led to 20 offensive rebounds for Taiwan Beer, ultimately cost the Bankers the win, as they were simply outplayed and outhustled by the Brew Crew in a game that was over long before the final buzzer.
PURE YOUTH 94, KINMEN LIQUOR
63Sparked by a near-flawless third quarter, the top-ranked Pure Youth Construction roughed up Kinmen Liquor in a 94-63 blowout in the second game in Sinjhuang last night.
The Builders put on 25 points on offense, while holding Kinmen Liquor to eight meager points with a spectacular defense that forced seven turnovers in the decisive third to seal the victory before the fourth quarter even began.
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
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS