Pure Youth Construction easily topped the Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards in game five of the Championship Finals with an 83-69 win at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex last night to take the best-of-seven series by a convincing 4-1 margin.
The win not only completed a three-peat for the Builders, but also saw them equal the record for longest run of championship wins in the league’s history, matching the Yulon Dinos in the league’s first three seasons.
Star forward Tsai Wen-cheng was at his best once again with 17 points and 12 rebounds, two of which came during a crucial three-minute span in the decisive fourth that got his team two additional possessions and denied the Leopards any realistic chances of a comeback.
Photo courtesy of the SBL
MVP
He was awarded the MVP award for the series for the second straight year for his exceptional plays and tremendous leadership as captain.
“It’s unbelievable to be able to win it all once again, it was a great team effort all round,” Tsai said after the game.
Also starring for the champs was Quincy Davis, whose game-high 20 points and 17 boards were instrumental in lifting his team past the Leopards. Other than a brief six-second breather he got at the end of the third, the big man was on the floor the entire way.
Avenging a 24-point first quarter by the Leopards in game four, which the Leopards won convincingly, Pure Youth returned the favor last night by scoring 24 in the first to take a seven-point lead.
MINOR COMEBACK
The Leopards managed to close the gap to single digits after falling behind by as many 13 in the second quarter, as they trailed the Builders 42-33 at the half.
Threes by Chien Chia-hung and Lin Li-ren led the way in a 22-point third that upped the Builders’ lead to an even dozen after the Leopards rallied to within seven of Pure Youth with a 7-0 run late in the quarter.
That was as close as they got, as Tsai and company came up big time and time again in the fourth to keep the cushion at 10 or more the rest of the way on their way to the title.
“It’s been a long road for us to go from being a three-win team to a three-peat team,” Pure Youth skipper Hsu Chin-che said after the game, recalling the Builders’ long road to prominence after having won only three games in 2004 and 2005 before a steady improvement that ultimately led to their current string of successes.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Liverpool on Tuesday suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Andre’s stoppage-time strike sealed a dramatic victory for the English Premier League’s bottom club. Arne Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike in the closing stages at Molineux. Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool level with his first goal in 11 top-flight games dating back to November last year. However, Andre’s first goal for Wolves inflicted the latest humbling loss in a chastening season for Liverpool. It was the first time the Premier League’s bottom club had beaten the reigning champions since Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in 2017. Liverpool
Taiwan yesterday defeated the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks’ farm team 5-1 in their final warm-up game ahead of their World Baseball Classic (WBC) Pool C opener. Taiwan’s bullpen used an unconventional rotation, with a different pitcher throwing each inning for the first seven innings. Together, they combined for eight strikeouts while allowing only four hits. The lone run surrendered came in the bottom of the eighth inning after a pitcher from Japan’s independent league took the mound. The pitching strategy was designed to preserve the arms of the Taiwanese ahead of their game against Australia at the Tokyo Dome tomorrow morning. Taiwanese-American Stuart Fairchild
RSS