Jonathan Sanders recorded another double-20 performance to propel the dmedia Numen to victory in the Super Basketball League on Sunday -- a 82-68 triumph over second-placed Taiwan Beer.
American Sanders, who took home the Most Valuable Player trophy for the month of January, continued his dominance at the Taipei County Sports Complex on Sunday by racking up 33 points and 27 rebounds for his sixth double-20 effort of the season.
The showdown between the No. 2 and No. 3 team in the league was close early on, with both squads playing rather conservatively in a low-scoring 18-18 first quarter.
A pair of long threes by the Numen's Lin Guan-luen against his former team sparked an 11-4 run for dmedia and they led by a half-dozen at the half, 39-33.
The turning point in the game came during the third quarter, in which the Numen outscored the beer crew 26-12 thanks to an incredible 19-point scoring spree by Sanders.
Dmedia led by as many as 22 points early in the fourth, before Taiwan Beer turned it up a notch and rallied to within nine with less than 1 minute remaining.
That was as close as the men in green got, as the Numen held their ground late in the game to preserve the win.
The Numen not only extended their winning streak to three, but also pulled within a half-game of Taiwan Beer in the standings. With the top three teams in the league separated by less than two games in the standings, the hunt for the regular season title will undoubtedly heat up.
Dinos 87, Bank of Taiwan 77
The Yulon Dinos bounced back nicely from a pair of losses with an 87-77 win over the Bank of Taiwan to reclaim sole possession of top spot in the standings on Sunday.
But it did not come easy for the league-leaders, as the bankers showed an uncanny resilience by overcoming deficits as large as 19 points in the second half to tie the game up at 74-all with 4 minutes left to play. However, they suffered another late-game collapse and lost by 10.
Rising to the occasion for the Dinos was veteran guard Chen Chih-chung, who more than made up for the absence of Tseng Wen-ding and Lee Chi-yi by scoring a career-high 37 points on the night.
Also starring for Yulon was Chen "Airman" Hsin-an, who chipped in 22 points and eleven boards for his fifth double-double performance in six games.
For the bankers, it was another case of "close, but no cigar" as they squandered their third-straight winning opportunity.
Tigers 60, Leopards 55
Behind consecutive three-pointers by guard Wang Chih-chuin on a game-high 20-point night, the Dacin Tigers controlled the fourth quarter en route to a 60-55 win over the Taiwan Mobile Leopards to end the weekend on a high note.
With top scorer Tien Lei out indefinitely as a result of a thumb injury and shooters Chen Tzu-wei and Lin Yi-hui combining for just 1-for-11 from behind the three-point line, the Tigers needed someone to pick up the scoring slack and assume the leadership role in the team.
And Wang did just that by nailing four threes to secure victory.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
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
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
RSS