Thursday, January 26, 2006

SBL Week 7 - BOT keeps surprising everyone

Bank of Taiwan (7-7) won five of its last six games and moved to .500 to tie with Videoland at the fourth place. This is probably the proudest moment in the last three years for this small-budget team.

If BOT did not lost in a double-overtime heartbreaker to ETSN (5-10), it would be riding on a 6-game winning streak right now.

Dacin forward Tien Lei tallied 70 points in two victories last week and was named Week 7 Baller of the Week.

Tien Lei inspired a final rally in the game vs. Yulon (11-4) in which Dacin (8-6) took advantage of the absence of Yulon center Tsun Wen-din, who fouled out of the game in 27 minutes, and kept attacking the paint. Dacin worked itself from the slump of a 3-game losing streak slump and also ended a 5-game losing streak vs. the defending champ.

Taiwan Beer (10-4) was king for a day, climbing to the top of the standings when it beat VL on Jan. 21, the same day Yulon lost to Dacin. But TB was upset by BOT and back to the second the next day after forward Wang Jian-wei missed a pair of free-throws with 2.8 seconds left.

SBL schedule will take a one-week break for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year holiday before resuming on Feb. 3. The 3rd SBL All-Star Game will take place on Feb. 11.

Jan. 20
Yulon 96-85 YMY
(Chiu Chi-yi 20p, Tsun Wen-din 12p+12rb+7blk, Lu Cheng-ju 16p ; Wang Chuan-jian 24p+9rb, Lo Shin-liang 15p)
[Game Notes] YMY suffered its 9th straight loss to Yulon.
Dacin 82-79 ETSN (Tien Lei 35p+15rb, Chang Chi-feng 12p+9rb+4a+5s ; O-Yang Jin-hen 22p)
[Game Notes] Dacin ends 3-game losing streak.

Jan. 21
TB 106-83 VL
(Lin Chi-jay 37p ; Lee Chi-yi 12p)
[Game Notes] TB won its 4th straight game as Lin Chi-jay scored his season-high 37 points.
ETSN 108-103(2OT) BOT (Yang Yu-min 31p ; Ju Yong-hong 23p+15rb, Chien Ming-fu 14p+7rb+5a)
[Game Notes] BOT's 4-game winning streak was snapped in the first double-overtime game of the season.
Dacin 80-73 Yulon (Tien Lei 35p+14rb+7a, Chang Chi-feng 17p ; Chen Chih-chun 17p+4a, Tsun Wen-din 11p+8rb)
[Game Notes] Dacin ends 5-game losing streak to Yulon.

Jan. 22
BOT 72-71 TB (Yang Chin-min 18p ; Lin Chi-jay 25p+10rb, Wu Chih-yuan 16p)
[Game Notes] BOT snapped its 6-game losing streak to TB thanks to a pair of missed free-throws with 2.8 seconds left by TB forward Wang Jian-wei.
VL 95-82 YMY (Hong Chi-chao 27p+9rb+7a, Lai Kuo-hong 17p ; Chen Shi-jay 24p, Lo Shin-liang 16p)
Yulon 90-69 ETSN (Tsun Wen-din 18p+7rb, Chou Shih-yuan 12p, Wu Chih-wei 12p+8rb ; Cheng Jen-wei 13p)

Standings:
Yulon 11-4, TB 10-4, Dacin 8-6, VL 7-7, BOT 7-7, ETSN 5-10, YMY 2-12