Overcoming early deficits as large as 14 points, the Yulon Dinos quickly rediscovered their usual flow to down the Dacin Tigers 69-63 at the Taipei County Sports Complex on Friday evening to claim a two-and-a-half-game lead over the second-place dmedia Numen in the standings.
Missing the service of all-around forward Chen "Airman" Hsin-an for the entire week owing to a knee injury, the three-time champs found themselves in an early double-digit deficit against a fired-up Dacin squad that desperately needed to win this game to keep their playoff hopes alive. But they regrouped quickly and reduce the gap to eight by going on an 8-2 run to end the first quarter trailing 15-23.
The Tigers regained a double-digit lead during the first two minutes of the second quarter before the Dinos answered with a 9-0 run of their own to cut the deficit down to three at the half.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
A sloppy third quarter by both squads that netted them only 24 combined points in the quarter saw the Dinos quietly take their first lead of the game at 53-52 with key baskets from guards Lee Hsueh-lin and Chen Chih-chung.
That was the extent to which the Tigers managed to hang with the league-leaders, as they scored only 11 points in the fourth quarter for a total of 21 second-half points to let this one slip away.
Three different Dinos players scored in double-digits on the night, with Chen Chih-chung leading the way with a game-high 20 points, followed by Yang Tseh-yi's 18 and reserve forward Chou Hong-yu's 14.
As for the Tigers, Lin Yi-hui's 20-point effort was the lone spotlight on the night as the rest of the pack played a good part of the game without the intensity that they showed in the early going, often dragging their feet in many cases.
Pure Youth 91, Bank of Taiwan 81
Pure Youth Construction had little trouble beating Bank of Taiwan 91-81 as they swept the season series 5-0 to gain a two-game lead over the Tigers for the fourth and final berth in the postseason play.
Doug Creighton of the US played his best game yet by hitting 10 of 14 from the field to amass a career-high 24 points in championing a builders' lineup that fell as far as four games below .500 as recently as January in a dramatic turnaround.
Emerging center Jien Jia-hong also continued his dominance inside the paint against a shorthanded bankers' interior defense that was missing Lin Chuin-fong and Chang Rong-hsuen with 23 points and six rare assists.
Pure Youth took a sizable 19-9 lead after the opening quarter behind Creighton's strong play and never looked back as the bankers were forced to play catch-up all game long, before eventually running out of gas to fall short by 10 in the end.
They were able to pour in 30 points in the fourth quarter compared with the builders' 24, but that did not affect the outcome of the game, as Pure Youth was in control the entire way.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
RSS