Taiwan Beer held off Yulon's furious rally in the final quarter and pulled off a 82-74 victory in Game 3 of the SBL Finals Friday, cutting Yulon's series lead to 2-1.
In one of its most sluggish games in recent memory, Yulon trailed by 20 points in the end of the 3rd quarter, 64-44. But Chou Shih-yuan came alive in the final 10 minutes and made a seemingly blowout a close game again.
Chou, who was scoreless in the first half, made four of five 3-pointers in Yulon's 18-0 run that opened the final period, cutting the deficit to two in five minutes. Yulon then pulled ahead with another 6-2 run after scoring 18 straight.
The Beermen refused to drop to a 3-0 hole. Led by Lin Chi-jay, who hurt his left ankle for the second time in three weeks in the 2nd quarter but insisted on playing in the second half, Taiwan Beer closed out the game with a 16-4 run. Hsu hao-cheng's three with 2:10 to play iced the game.
Lin Chi-jay, who led TB with 22 points, stepped on Tsun Wen-din's foot when going for a loose ball and twisted his left ankle, the same ankle he injured in the last game of the regular season, in the second period.
Point guard Hsu hao-cheng had 10 points and a team-high 7 rebounds. Chen Shih-nian had 14 points for TB.
Yulon experienced an embarrassing first half, when it managed to scored just 22 points and everything was not going well. Its outside shots weren't falling. Tsun Wen-din was being double-teamed and committing turnovers.
Yulon didn't score in the 2nd quarter until 4 minutes left in the half. Its 9 points in the second quarter was an all-time low single-quarter record in a SBL Final game.
Chou Shih-yuan's team-high 23 points all came in the second half. He made 6-of-12 3-pointers in the game. Tsun Wen-din collected 22 points and 10 boards but had 6 turnovers. Chen Chih-chun had 11 points.
Yulon's 8-game winning streak in the SBL Finals was snapped.
Game 4 and Game 5 will be played on Saturday and Sunday.
Game 3: TB 82-74 Yulon (Half 37-22)
Yulon leads 2-1
TB: Lin Chi-jay 22p+6rb, Chen Shih-nian 14p+6a, Shan Wei-fan 12p, Hsu Hao-cheng 10p+7rb
Yulon: Chou Shih-yuan 23p(6-12 3PT), Tsun Wen-din 22p+10rb+4a+6TO, Chen Chih-chun 11p+6rb
*Dacin swept BOT in 3rd-place series
Tien Lei had 28 points and 14 rebounds and led Dacin to a 94-87 victory over Bank of Taiwan to win the third-place series 3-0.
Game 3: Dacin 94-87 BOT (Half 56-38)
Dacin: Tien Lei 28p+14rb, Chang Chi-feng 22p, Chen Tse-wei 13p
BOT: Chen Shun-hsiang 22p, Chuan Hsiao-wen 16p+12rb, Yang Chin-min 16p, Yua Yin-li 12p+3s+2blk