The Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers on Saturday moved to fourth in P.League+ standings with a 93-80 victory over the Taoyuan Pilots at the Hsinchu County Stadium.
American shooting guard Michael Efevberha set the tone with a 28-point explosion in the first half, nailing 10 of 13 shots, including all six from beyond the arc, finishing the game with 30 points and 13 rebounds.
“I just wanted to get us our third win in a row... We played really good team defense and we were moving the ball,” Efevberha said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu
The win — the Lioneers’ first since they on Wednesday announced a sponsorship deal with Toplus and changed their name — improved Hsinchu’s record in the six-team league to 3-4.
The team’s first three-game winning stretch since January was encapsulated by Efevberha’s rebounds on the offensive end.
His first three games with the team were “like pre-season,” as he had not played five-on-five basketball for about eight months, he said.
“I know I’m the oldest on the team, but I figure if I go out and show them how hard I played defense then they’ll follow my lead,” he said. “They’ve been doing it, and our defense has been a lot better since when I first got here.”
The Pilots fell to fifth in the league, one game behind the Lioneers.
Elsewhere on Saturday, the New Taipei Kings outhustled the Taipei Fubon Braves 111-106 courtesy of a 44-point game by Jeremy Lin in front of a 6,540 sellout crowd at Xinzhuang Gymnasium.
Lin drained 17 points en route to a season-high performance, and helped the Kings overcome a 17-point deficit in the last quarter for the win.
The 7-1 Kings are tied for first with the Formosa Dreamers.
In the T1 League, the Kaohsiung Aquas handed the Taipei Mars their third straight loss with a 114-98 win in Taipei on the back of Jason Brickman’s super triple-double.
The Filipino-American point guard logged 31 points, 12 boards and 16 assists, while scoring his 1,000th point in the league.
Brickman has dished out at least 10 assists in seven consectuve games, and is leading the league with 13.2 per game.
Meanwhile, the New Taipei CTBC DEA trounced the Tainan TSG GhostHawks 108-91, led by Viktor Gaddefors’ 28 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
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