Bank of Taiwan yesterday afternoon nipped a three-game slide with a narrow 73-70 win over the Fubon Braves at the Changhua County Gymnasium to salvage a 1-1 record for the week.
The win also avenged a two-point defeat at the hands of the Braves in their first meeting with the Bankers, who nearly gave the game away in the closing seconds with an ill-advised foul on a three-point attempt by Fubon’s Joseph Lin that could have brought the Braves to within one had Lin converted all three of his free-throw attempts.
Luckily for the Bankers, Lin managed to make only two of the three free throws to leave the Bankers’ lead at two, which gave them just enough breathing room to keep the Braves from turning the tide in the end.
“The coverage on me was quite tight, so I had to find the open man to give us better shot opportunities,” Bank of Taiwan captain Chen Hsuan-hsiang said after the game.
The Bankers captain might not have had a big game as far as scoring was concerned, netting only nine points, but he had seven invaluable assists, the last of which led to an uncontested layup for Lung Hung-yuan as the shot clock expired with less than 24 seconds remaining in the game, all but sealing the deal for the victors.
Five early turnovers by the Braves set them back by five in the opening quarter, as they were held to only 10 points in the quarter in a rare slow start. However, the diehard Braves would pick up their pace with a 20-point second quarter to reduce the Bankers’ lead to 33-30 at the half, with Earl Barron pouring in 10 in the second.
That set up a 9-2 run by Fubon in the third to put them ahead by as many as five before Chen scored eight of his team’s final nine points in the quarter to maintain a three-point advantage for the Bankers after three quarters of play.
The game quickly turned into a seesaw battle, with the two teams trading leads of less than three for most of the fourth before the Bankers grabbed a four-point lead with less than 25 seconds remaining in the game to stay ahead for good.
Despite the loss, the Braves did have one highlight: Wu Yung-jen surpassed the 3,000 career points mark with a three-pointer late in the second to become the first player in the league to rack up 3,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists.
“I am proud of [setting the record], but more importantly, I would like for our team to do well,” Wu said after the game.
Luxgens 78, Taiwan Beer 75
The Yulon Luxgens made it two wins in a row by edging past Taiwan Beer in the second game in Changhua to improve to a 6-5 mark for the season.
Led by Lu “Male Model” Cheng-ju’s six three-pointers in a game-high 21-point outing, the Automakers bombarded the Taiwan Beer defense with a season-high 12 three-pointers to humble a Brew Crew who dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season to settle with an 8-4 record near the midpoint of the season.
Pure Youth 76, Kinmen Kaoliang 70
Top-ranked Pure Youth Construction baffled Kinmen Kaoliang to secure victory in the final game in Changhua, extending their current winning streak to 10 straight.
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