Kinmen Kaoliang guard Yu Huan-ya (于煥亞), whose hot touch often racks up key baskets down the stretch, was named most valuable player of the Super Basketball League’s (SBL) All-Star Game on Saturday, while Dacin Tigers import player O.J. Mayo showed off his NBA pedigree by winning the three-point shooting contest.
Yu led the White team to a 146-140 triumph over the Black team at this year’s all-star contest at the Taoyuan Stadium.
Yu’s two three-pointers in the final minute made the difference for the Whites and made him the All-Star Game’s most valuable player.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
In the three-point shooting contest, O.J. Mayo, who played in the NBA for eight seasons, racked up 20 points, beating out four Taiwanese players who had advanced to the final round.
When the first half of the SBL season wrapped up last month, Taiwan’s two “Brew Crew” clubs topped the table, with Kinmen Kaoliang’s 16 wins placing them in first and Taiwan Beer’s 15 victories landing them in second, followed closely by the Fubon Braves (13-10), the Yulon Luxgen Dinos (13-12) and the Dacin Tigers (11-11).
Pauian Archiland (10-13) are currently in sixth place, while Bank of Taiwan (5-19) remain decidedly at the bottom of the table.
After a month-long hiatus due to the winter break and the Lunar New Year holiday, the second half of SBL season picks up on Thursday at the Taoyuan Arena when the Dacin Tigers take on Pauian Archiland at 6pm, followed by Taiwan Beer and the Fubon Braves at 8pm.
On Friday, Bank of Taiwan challenge Kinmen Kaoliang, followed by the Yulon Luxgen Dinos and Pauian Archiland.
The front-runners, Kinmen Kaoliang and Taiwan Beer, face off in the early game on Saturday, followed by the Dacin Tigers and the Fubon Braves.
On Sunday, Pauian Archiland entertains Bank of Taiwan in the day’s first match-up, followed by the Yulon Dinos and the Dacin Tigers.
ASEAN BASKETBALL LEAGUE
In ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) action at the Changhua County Stadium yesterday evening, the Formosa Dreamers defeated the Westports Malaysia Dragons 82-76, after losing 72-74 to the Saigon Heat in an earlier contest.
The Dreamers’ teamwork and passing kept them out in front of the Dragons the entire game, and they led by 13 points going into the fourth quarter.
The Dragons mounted a rally, racking up three-pointers to make it a four-point contest, but the Dreamers defense held on, hitting all their free-throws in the final minutes and capping a fast break in the last six seconds with a slam dunk.
The Dreamers (11-6) are in second place so far this season and could still challenge the San Miguel Alab Pilipinas (14-3) atop the ABL table.
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