Taiwan Beer overcame a sluggish third quarter — in which they netted only nine points — with a dominant fourth to defeat Kinmen Kaoliang 68-65 at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City last night, stretching their winning streak to three.
Lu Chi-min poured in a career-high 27 points to lead the Brew Crew past their foes in a game they led for a good part of the first half before coughing up the advantage in a dismal third quarter with a total offensive collapse.
Fortunately for Taiwan Beer, the Distillers were not able to cash in on their miscues, with several wasted possessions due to poor shot selection to hand the lead back to Taiwan Beer for good in the fourth.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“We started the rally by playing fundamentally sound defense, which helped us get back on track,” Lu said after the game.
His club squandered a seven-point advantage at the half with an awful third before mustering just enough on offense in the fourth to get the job done.
The Brew Crew’s ball-denying defense in the fourth was the key to victory.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
An expected easy victory for second-placed Taiwan Beer — winners in all three of their previous meetings against Kinmen Kaoliang this season — had the makings of another rout as the Brew Crew came out firing with 24 quick points in the opening frame to lead 24-19 at the quarter. Chang Jung-hsuan scored nine points in the quarter to go along with seven from Lu.
The men in the familiar green added to their lead in a more evenly fought second to close out the half at 41-34.
That led to an all-out attack by Kinmen, who doubled up on Taiwan Beer in an 18-9 scoring differential to take the lead in the third, setting the stage for the Brew Crew’s valiant comeback.
Last-placed Kinmen Kaoliang had an excellent opportunity to pull off what would have been a major upset with a rare fourth-quarter lead behind a another strong effort by hired gun Kyle Barone, who increased his team-best scoring average of 23 points per game with 26 on the night. However, he was the lone Kinmen player to finish with double-digit scoring.
Tigers 83, Braves 64
The Dacin Tigers bounced back from a tough loss to top-ranked Pure Youth Construction on Friday night with a win over the Fubon Braves to head into the Lunar New Year break on a high note.
Five three’s in the first half by Lin Guan-lun set the tone as the Cats showered the Braves’ territory with a slew of bombs from long distance to force Fubon out of their game plan early, forcing the Braves to play catch-up ball virtually the entire game.
Lin ended with a season-high 34 points to pace the Cats past Fubon.
The win brought the third-placed Tigers to within two games of Taiwan Beer in the standings.
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