Earl Barron (Fubon Braves) scored a game-high 29 points and Liu Cheng (Taiwan Beer) added another 24, including numerous slam dunks worthy of the Most Valuable Player honor, as Team Red held off a fierce late rally by Team White to come away with a 121-117 win in this year’s All-Star Game at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City last night.
The annual mid-season gala to showcase the league’s top talent was all Team Red through the first three quarters of play as Liu and Barron teamed up to help their team build leads as large as 24 points, but with Team White’s Lu Cheng-ju (Yulon Luxgens) downing three-pointers from downtown in the fourth to rally his team to within two points, it was Team Red who had the final say as they held off their opponents with some clutch rebounds late in the game to deny Team White what would have been an incredible comeback.
Dacin Tigers big man Bryan Davis had a monstrous first half with 23 points, but could not finish the game as he had to leave after the first half to catch a flight back to the US.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
“There is no doubt that [Davis] has shown his worth on our team; he could have left a week earlier, but decided to hang around for an extra week,” Dacin Tigers skipper Chiou Da-tsung said.
Slam Dunk Contest
Hsiao Hsuen-yi of the Fubon Braves soared from beneath the basket with a single-pumped reversed slam to outduel Dacin Tigers rookie Shih Yen-tsung in the final round of the Slam Dunk Contest to take home the coveted honor.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Three-Point Shootout
Taiwan Beer rookie Yu Huan-ya nailed the final-money ball to edge past Kinmen Kaoliang’s Chien Wei-ju by a 17-16 margin for the bragging rights as this year’s top three-point shooter.
Yu cruised through the first two rounds with the highest marks to ascend from a pack of 14 and reach the final against fellow former National Taiwan Normal University student Chien.
“It’s good that the title was contested by fellow graduates of the National Taiwan Normal,” Yu said.
Skills Challenge
Lu Chi-er of the Dacin Tigers made the most of his first All-Star appearance by topping Pure Youth’s Ni Hsueh-chien in the final of the Skills Challenge to walk away with the winner’s trophy.
Things did not look promising for Lu in the early rounds as he needed to rally in the first two rounds against Ko Min-hao of the Yulon Luxgens and Chen Chin-hua of the Fubon Braves to earn the right to take on Ni in the final.
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