A timely resurgence by Liu Sheng-yao, who converted all four free throws in the final 16 seconds of the game, held off a tenacious rally by the Yulon Luxgens to give the Taiwan Mobile Leopards a thrilling 79-76 win at the Hsinchu Municipal Gymnasium on Friday evening.
The soft-spoken Leopard forward, who is finally seeing the floor time he deserves after two years of play, was able to rise to the occasion by nailing the clutch free throws against his former team after the Luxgens were forced to foul intentionally with less than a minute remaining.
“I have been playing a lot better as of late and I hope the trend will continue,” Liu said after the game.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
He has averaged nearly 20 points per game over a four-game stretch to help the Leopards — under the direction of coach Cheng Chih-long — pull off upset wins over Pure Youth Constructions and the Luxgens in the same span.
Seven straight points by Leopards newcomer Alexus Foyle in the first quarter sparked a 10-0 run that gave the Leopards a surprising 19-11 lead before the cats upped the cushion to a whopping 13 (46-33) by the half, highlighted by a buzzer-beating three-pointer from mid-court by Ou Yang Jing-hen.
The Luxgens finally got back on track with a solid third quarter, tied the game up in the fourth and led briefly before coming up empty in all four of their final possessions to let the game slip away in the end.
KINMEN LIQUOR 95, BOT 85
Red-hot Kinmen Liquor continued its winning streak on Friday with a convincing win over Bank of Taiwan (BOT), thanks to an outstanding effort by local boy Cheng Ren-wei and last week’s Player of the Week Shawn “the Hawk” Hawkins.
The Kinmen scoring tandem’s combined 63 points accounted for nearly two-thirds of the team’s total offense for the night has been the main reason the distillers are tied for the lead with the Dacin Tigers with a 7-2 record.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans