(Tien Lei had 49 points, photo courtesy of ESPN Taiwan)
Tien Lei scored his career-high 49 points in Dacin's 93-92 overtime victory over ETSN and help the Tigers clinch the last playoff seed Friday in the southern city of Tainan.
With the win, Dacin (16-12) knocked ETSN (15-14) out of the playoffs. Even if both teams tied with 16-14, Dacin will advance to the postseason by a 3-2 head-to-head advantage. The Antelopes also became the only SBL team without a postseason appearance in the league's four-year history.
In the must-win game for both teams, Tien Lei shot 17-of-35 from the field and made a tying three-pointer with 13.3 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime. Before Tien's three, ETSN squandered a seven-point lead with a minute left in the regulation. PG Huang Bao-tse missed four consecutive free-throws in the span to give Dacin a final chance.
BOT lost to Yulon and dropped its 17th straight game.
Dacin 93-92(OT) ETSN
Dacin: Tien Lei 49p(17-35 FG)+9rb, Yao Jun-jay 20p+6rb, Chang Chi-feng 18p+9rb+5a
ETSN: Wu Dai-hao 27p(10-14 FG)+2blk, D. Thomas 18p(8-12 FG)+10rb+3blk, O-Yang Jin-hen 13p+6rb, Yang Yu-min 12p
Yulon 84-68 BOT
Yulon: Wu Chih-wei 21p+8rb, Lu Cheng-ju 14p, Chen Hsin-an 12p+5rb+4a
BOT: Yang Chin-min 13p+6rb+7s, Chang Jung-hsuan 13p, Chang Bo-shen 12p