The Dacin Tigers opened their week of play on a high note with a 76-68 victory over Kinmen Kaoliang at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night.
The win not only avenged a bitter loss to the Distillers on New Year’s Day for the Cats, but also nipped a seven-game slide for them as they attempt to battle their way out of the cellar in the standings with 10 games remaining in the regular season.
Norvel Pelle turned in his third double-20 effort of the season by netting 22 points and 25 rebounds to lead a Dacin squad that had not had much to cheer about for nearly three weeks as they won for the first time this year.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Also starring for the Cats was defensive specialist Yueh Ying-li, who answered skipper Hsu Chih-chao’s challenging task of guarding Kinmen Kaoliang’s top scorer Bryan Davis by inducing two early fouls on the Distillers’ hired gun along with five turnovers in the opening frame to compromise Davis’ effectiveness on the floor.
That was the difference in the game as the league’s top scorer never seemed comfortable, despite scoring 24 points on the night (well short of his season average of 29-plus heading into the game).
“[Yueh] really did a great job for us as far as keeping Davis’ damage to a minimum and getting him to turn the ball over,” Hsu said after the game.
The nine turnovers by Davis was a new season-high for the American power forward.
A 12-0 start by the Tigers in the first three minutes of the game set the tone early as they settled with a rare 27-12 lead after one quarter of play.
The double-digit deficit did not rattle the Distillers, as they held Dacin to six points in the second quarter while scoring 15 points of their own to trail the Cats by six at the half.
The Tigers added to their advantage in the third quarter with Chang Chia-rong’s eight-point outburst leading the way.
They led by as many as a dozen in the third before Kinmen Kaoliang rallied to within four with a three-pointer by Davis with one minute remaining in the game.
That was as close as it got as the Tigers converted several clutch shots down the stretch to keep the victory intact.
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Top-ranked Pure Youth Construction rallied from a first-half deficit with a strong second half to roll past Bank of Taiwan in the second game in New Taipei City last night to claim a half-game lead over the Fubon Braves in the standings.
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