Regular-season action commenced in the SBL on Saturday with the Dacin Tigers downing Taiwan Beer 85-77 at the Miaoli County Sports Complex.
Versatile Dacin forward Tien Lei’s game-high 24 points and 10 boards led the way for the defending champions as they started the season with a big win over the Beer Crew.
Both squads showed some early-season rustiness by missing their first four shots and it took more than two minutes to break a scoreless tie in the highly anticipated showdown between the champions of the past two seasons.
The teams combined for only 28 points in a low-scoring first quarter, but the Tigers eradicated their sloppiness in a 22-point second quarter, with Tien and captain Chang Chih-fong nailing several clutch shots to close out the first half with a narrow 35-32 lead against a Beer squad missing top scorer and team icon Lin “the Beast” Chih-jeh, who left to join China’s Chinese Basketball Association in the off-season.
Even though Taiwan Beer would skid ahead briefly in the third quarter with the solid perimeter shooting of guard Yang Yu-ming, the Tigers simply refused to lay down as they kept the game close well into the fourth quarter, before pulling off a 10-2 run in the final three minutes of the contest to win the season-opener.
The Brew Crew — featuring the “twin towers” center Wu Dai-hao and proven import Delvin Thomas of the US — failed to contain Tien and ultimately it cost them the game as they struggled to work Thomas into an offense that had relied heavily on the Beast over the past six seasons.
“We are still a little rusty with [Lin] Chih-jeh gone, but I am fairly happy with our efforts tonight ... I am sure as time goes on, we will get better,” Taiwan Beer skipper Yen JIa-hua said after the game.
LUXGENS 81, PURE YOUTH 71
Behind a gutsy 22-point performance by Chou Shih-yuan, the Yulon Luxgens overcame a five-point first-half deficit to topple Pure Youth Construction.
Coming into the game as slight underdogs, with their top star Chen Hsin-an remaining in an all-Taiwanese lineup that saw Chou converting from the perimeter while center Tseng Wen-ding dominated inside the paint, the Luxgens pulled off an upset.
Despite an incredible double-20 outing by Pure Youth hired gun Jonathan Sanders, whose game-high 20 points and 22 rebounds were dampened by the loss, the Builders showed a lack of experience as they failed to capitalize on a decent first half with a dismal 11-point third quarter that proved costly.
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
STAR IN DOUBT: After partially dislocating his shoulder in a feetfirst slide into second base, the status of Japanese slugger Ohtani is uncertain for Game 3 as he undergoes tests Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Saturday walked back to his dugout and made the slightest tip of his cap to cheering fans. He left Japan for moments like this, an opportunity to put the Los Angeles Dodgers in control of the World Series. Yamamoto allowed one hit over 6-1/3 innings and Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night as Los Angeles beat the New York Yankees 4-2 for a 2-0 Series lead. However, the Dodgers head to New York uncertain whether Shohei Ohtani can play after their biggest star partially dislocated his left shoulder on a slide at second base. “We’re going to get
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