The Yulon Dinos on Sunday gained revenge for their postseason loss to Taiwan Beer, trouncing the brew crew 86-67 in Hsinchu to close out the preseason with a 2-0 record.
The three-time champs looked unstoppable against Taiwan Beer, hitting nearly 50 percent (14-for-32) of their three-pointers and pushing the ball up the court for one fastbreak basket after another. Finishing off several of those fastbreak opportunities was newly acquired guard Yang Tseh-yi (from the Taiwan Mobile Leopards), who proved his worth by adding a brand new dimension to a Dinos attack that had traditionally resorted to a half-court play that showcased the inside presence of all-star center Tseng Wen-ding and the flashy penetration of forward Chen "The Airman" Hsin-an.
The Dinos opened the game against their longtime rivals with a 20-4 run over the first four minutes of the contest and finished the quarter with a 23-12 lead.
The beer crew reduced the deficit to a half-dozen at the start of the second quarter, but that was the last time the deficit was kept under 10 points as the Dinos scored 15 of the next 17 points to end the first half up 40-29.
Picking up where they left off, the Dinos opened the second half with a slew of long-range three's, including three from shooting guard Chou Shih-yuan, to increase their lead to as many as 26 points. That was more than enough to demonstrate their superiority as both teams emptied their benches in the interest of giving their reserve players some real game experience.
"That was the big spank that we needed because we really stunk up the place today," disgusted Taiwan Beer head coach Yen Jia-hua said after the game.
His club was outplayed by the Dinos in every facet of the game, despite their huge win over the Dacin Tigers on Friday.
Four different Dinos players scored in the double-digits on the night, while Taiwan Beer's Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh contributed 14 points to a lost cause.
NUMEN 74, LEOPARDS 71
Behind a crucial three-point play by forward Wu Jia-long in the final minute of play, the dmedia numen (formerly the ETTV Antelopes) held off a tenacious rally by the Taiwan Mobile Leopards (formerly the Videoland Hunters) to win their preseason finale by a narrow 74-71 margin at the Hsinchu County Sports Complex on Sunday.
The numen led by as many as seven with less than three minutes remaining in regulation time, but allowed the Leopards to hang on by scoring five in a row to make it a two-point game with approximately a minute left in the game.
It was then that Wu stepped up, taking the ball strong to the basket and banking it off the glass after he was fouled to complete a three-point play that sealed the game.
The Leopards could easily have beaten dmedia had they not conceded a ridiculous 27 turnovers in the game. Failure to protect the defensive glass on the part of the Leopards, which led to 20 offensive rebounds and at least 15 points for dmedia, also dug a hole too deep for them to climb out of.
Leading the way for dmedia against his former club was American standout Janathan Sanders, who accounted for 13 of the 20 offensive boards by gaining great position inside the paint against a smaller and slower Taiwan Mobile frontcourt.
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
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Chess great Magnus Carlsen on Friday quit the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York after governing body FIDE barred the Norwegian from participating in a round at the tournament for wearing jeans. FIDE said in a statement that its dress code regulations were designed to “ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants.” It issued Carlsen a US$200 fine and gave him an opportunity to change into the correct attire, which the world No. 1 rejected, it said. Carlsen said he had a lunch meeting before the round and had to change quickly. “I put on a shirt, jacket and honestly like
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