The Fubon Braves concluded a three-game week with a 86-72 win over Bank of Taiwan at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night to finish the week with a perfect record.
Hired gun Darian Townes bounced back from a low-scoring effort against Taiwan Beer on Friday night with a 21-point outing in less than 24 minutes of play to lead all scorers, upping his team-best average to 23.2 points per game.
The Braves opened the contest with a 9-0 run against the disorganized Bankers, who missed their first five attempts.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Even though Bank of Taiwan regrouped in a hurry to close out the first quarter trailing the Braves 22-17, they were outscored 28-8 in a decisive second quarter to dig themselves a hole too deep to get out of.
With a 25-point cushion at the half, Fubon head coach Otis Hughley gave Townes a break of more than five minutes in the third, during which the Bankers halved the deficit.
However, that did not affect the outcome of the game, as the Braves maintained their poise in the fourth quarter to keep the lead at more than a dozen the rest of the way.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Luxgens 71, Kinmen Kaoliang 78
Red-hot Kinmen Kaoliang won the fifth of their past seven games with a triumph over the Yulon Luxgens in New Taipei City yesterday afternoon, dealing the Automakers their second straight defeat in as many days.
The win also lifted the Distillers to a tie for fourth place with Yulon, with both teams 8-11, a considerable improvement for Kinmen given their dismal 2-8 start.
Other than top-scorer Bryan Davis’ usual 30-plus-point outing — he got 33 last night — the game belonged to rookie Chien Wei-rue, who came off the bench for skipper Wu Chun-hsiung and scored a season-high 20 points to bail out a Distillers squad, who were missing regular starter Hsu Hao-cheng to injury and his replacement, Lin Wei-han, who was hurt during the game.
“[Chien] really did a tremendous job for us with [Hsu] Hao-cheng and [Lin] Wei-han not available,” Wu said after the game.
Pure Youth 93, Tigers 80
Top-ranked Pure Youth Construction rallied from a first-half deficit to rough up the Dacin Tigers 93-80 in the weekend finale in New Taipei City.
The Builders bombarded the Tigers defense, converting 13 of 22 three-point attempts, highlighted by Doug Creighton’s season-high seven from downtown to deal the free-falling Cats their seventh straight defeat.
The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso before their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League raised further questions about his future. Arsenal remain perfect in this season’s competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. The clash between Madrid and City was the standout game of the round amid reports this week that Alonso had lost control of the locker room. Speculation over his position is likely to intensify after the latest
‘HIGH STANDARD’: The Thunder are on track for a Finals-Cup double after they scored 22 three-pointers in equaling the best 25-game start to a season in NBA history The Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday bagged a 16th straight victory, thrashing the Phoenix Suns 138-89 to romp into an NBA Cup semi-final clash with the San Antonio Spurs, who stunned the Los Angeles Lakers 132-119. NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points to lead the reigning NBA champions Thunder, who improved to 24-1 to equal the best 25-game start to a season in league history. They dominated from start to finish to book their place in the final four of the in-season tournament in Las Vegas, where they are tomorrow to take on the Spurs. The New York Knicks and
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Tony Jefferson intercepted a Jalen Hurts pass in overtime to give the Los Angeles Chargers a 22-19 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday in an NFL thriller between playoff contenders. Justin Herbert, playing a week after surgery on his broken left (non-throwing) hand, withstood a career-high seven sacks to throw for 139 yards and a touchdown for the Chargers. Cameron Dicker kicked five field goals, including the 54-yard game winner in overtime. The Chargers defenders forced Hurts to throw four interceptions and surrender a fumble for a career-worst five turnovers as the Eagles fell to 8-5 with a third