The Dacin Tigers yesterday held off a late-game rally by Bank of Taiwan to escape with a 90-80 win at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City.
The victory not only extended the third-ranked Cats’ winning streak to three, but it also cut their deficit behind second-ranked Taiwan Beer to 1.5 games as they head down the final stretch of the regular season with four and three games remaining on their respective schedules.
Heading into the contest with a pair of solid wins under their belt, the Tigers came out firing in the opening quarter with Chou Yi-hsiang netting 11 and Lu Chi-er chipping in 10 to double up on the Bankers at 28-14.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The Tigers added another two to their lead in a more competitive second quarter that saw Chu Yi-tsung nailing a pair of three-pointers to close out the first half with a commanding 48-32 advantage.
Dacin increased their margin to 22 points with a 16-4 run early in the third, with Chou and Chang Chih-fong spearheading the offense, only to see the resilient Bankers answer with a sizable run of their own, with Luke Nevill and Chang Po-wei combining for 13 points to keep the deficit at an even dozen by the end of the quarter.
The two teams traded mini runs in the fourth quarter, where the Financial Wizards kept the deficit below 10 for the most part. That set up a 5-0 run in favor of the upset-minded Bankers, who cut the Dacin lead to five with two minutes remaining in the game.
That was as close as they got as the Tigers outscored them 7-2 the rest of the way to pull away in the end.
Failure to put the game away when they had a chance continued to trouble the Cats, who have blown double-digit leads more often than skipper Chiou Da-tsung would like.
“Letting the other team back in the game is an old problem for us; that is something we need to work on a lot more,” Dacin rookie Lu said after the game, pointing out an age-old problem that could hurt his team in the post-season.
Taiwan Beer 86, Kinmen 82, OT
Taiwan Beer yesterday rallied from a second-half deficit to edge past Kinmen Kaoliang in overtime in the second game in New Taipei City.
Chiang Yu-an’s tiebreaking three-pointer with 48 seconds remaining in overtime put Taiwan Beer ahead after they played the entire overtime without top scorer Patrick O’Bryant, who fouled out late in regulation time, to skid past Kinmen Kaoliang.
What should have been an easy victory for the second-ranked Brew Crew against the last-placed Distillers turned into a dogfight, as Kinmen’s best refused to give up in the second half, despite racking up a double-digit first-half lead.
The Distillers trailed by as many as six points with less than two minutes of play remaining in regulation time before forcing the match into an extra session.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
RSS