Pauian Archiland are a win away from the Super Basketball League title after a thrilling 68-63 victory last night at New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Gymnasium over the Fubon Braves in Game 4 for a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven championship finals.
Archiland guard Chen Chien-en and big center Quincy Davis made key plays down the stretch to break a 60-60 deadlock late in the fourth quarter for the victory.
Defense held sway through most of the game, with Fubon looking to seize a win after going ahead 40-26 at the intermission, but Archiland starters caught fire to net 20 points in the third quarter to get back into the game.
With less than four minutes remaining in the fourth, Davis powered in a slam dunk to put his team ahead for good at 62-60.
After both teams missed shots, Chen dribbled in from the right side for a jumper. He later made two free throws to put Archiland further ahead at 66-62 with only 12 seconds remaining.
Fubon had a chance to close the gap, but hit only one of two free throws.
With only seven seconds left, Davis was fouled and hit two clutch free throws to seal the victory.
Davis scored 12 points and recovered 15 rebounds, while Chen had 14 points to go with five rebounds.
“We did not play well in the first half, and it seemed we did not want to win, but we came out firing in the third quarter and eventually pulled out the big win,” Davis said. “I tried to help out my teammates both on offense and defense, so when someone was shut down, we get the ball to the open man.”
In Game 3 on Tuesday, Archiland were hot from long range in a 90-71 victory over the Braves.
Archiland players drained 14 of 28 trey attempts, compared with five-of-21 field goal shooting for the Braves.
Davis led the charge with a team-high 20 points and 12 rebounds, with four of his teammates also netting in the double digits.
Starters Douglas Creighton, Lin Chin-pang and Chen posted 18, 14 and 12 points respectively, while reserve center Chen Kuang-chuan came off the bench to add 14 points in the triumph.
Fubon big center Garret Siler registered another double-double with 12 points and 18 rebounds, while forward Chang Tsung-hsieng scored a team-high 19 points to go with five rebounds.
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