Taiwan’s top hoop stars last night were the focus of basketball fans around the world as Taiwan Beer rebounded from a seven-point halftime deficit to beat the Yulon Luxgen Dinos 94-74, evening up their Super Basketball League (SBL) Finals series 2-2 at the Hao Yu Sports Center in New Taipei City.
The International Basketball Federation has made the SBL Finals available for an international audience starved of live-court action due to lockdowns and shuttered seasons amid the COVID-19 pandemic by livestreaming all of the games on its YouTube and Facebook channels.
The Yulon Dinos took Pauian Archiland in the first-round playoffs with a three-game sweep to advance to the finals, where they faced Taiwan Beer, who finished the regular season in first place thanks to their 25-7 record.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Taiwan Beer forward Kentrell Barkley of the US led the team with 23 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double, while his partner up front, Huang Tsung-han, had 17 points and three rebounds.
Other players had double-digit totals — including Huang Cheng with 16 and Chiang Yu-an with 12 — while center Ihor Zaytsev of Ukraine put up 14 points and nine rebounds.
The Yulon Dinos roared to a 47-40 halftime lead, but Taiwan Beer hit their stride in the second half, outscoring their opponents 54 to 27 to close with a runaway 20-point triumph.
Taiwan Beer head coach Chou Chun-san — a regular on Taiwan’s national squad and part of the Hung Kuo Elephants three-title dynasty in the 1990s — said that it was great to even up the series, which gave his players a confidence boost.
“We tried different combinations at the start and did not get into our rhythm in the first quarter, but we managed to keep the game close throughout the second quarter,” Chou said after the game, which was played behind closed doors as a disease prevention measure.
“After halftime, we beefed up our defense. Our players took advantage of turnovers and steals, scoring on fast breaks,” he added.
Chou, looking ahead to tomorrow’s game, said he aims to prevail over the Yulon Dinos again and take the lead in the series.
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