Taiwan Beer had a strong showing against the Yulon Luxgens, collecting a 69-58 win at the Changhua County Gymnasium last night and dealing the Automakers their first loss of the season.
Heading into the contest with back-to-back losses on their mind, the Brew Crew made sure the supposedly uphill battle against the previously unbeaten Luxgens would not end on a down note as they overcame a dismal first quarter with a brilliant second and third quarter, in which they outscored the league-leaders 40-25, and led by as many as 20 points in the fourth.
That was more than ample for the men in the green uniforms to pocket the win, despite a rally attempt by the Luxgens that cut the deficit to 10 with less than two minutes remaining.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“We had too much on our shoulders with the unbeaten streak on the line and everything, so [the loss] could be good for us as far as getting the monkey off our back,” Yulon skipper Lin Cheng-ming said after the game.
His troops never looked comfortable in zone defense against a Brew Crew lineup that shot nearly 45 percent from the field, including seven three-pointers.
Leading the Taiwan Beer attack was all-purpose star Liu Chan, who was part of a trio of double-digit scorers and had a game-high 24 points to account for more than one-third of Taiwan Beer’s total offense.
Also starring were Patrick O’Bryant and Chiang Yu-an, whose 18 points apiece made it virtually impossible for Yulon to get into the game.
Fresh from his Player of the Week selection, Yulon forward Chou Po-chen was not a factor in the game as the Brew Crew double-teamed him on several occasions to completely neutralize the top Yulon scorer of late.
Kinmen 72, Pure Youth 81
Pure Youth Construction beat Kinmen Kaoliang in the late game.
Bank of Taiwan 93, Tigers 83
Bank of Taiwan picked up where they left off on Friday night with a trouncing of the Dacin Tigers in Changhua yesterday afternoon to up their record to 3-2 for the year.
Hired gun James Tyler played his best game of the season so far with 24 points and 15 rebounds against the Tigers, who tied a team record for longest losing streak, with five.
The Cats (0-5) are the only winless team in the league.
Correction
On Friday night, the Fubon Braves downed Taiwan Beer 75-62, not the other way around as reported.
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