In a season widely seen as one which will be dominated by foreign players, Shawn Hawkins and Jon Sanders are starting to make the prediction come true.
Hawkins had 24 points and 9 rebounds in his debut and led KKL to a 80-77 win over Yulon Sunday while Jon Sanders tallied 30 points and 10 boards in Pure Youth's 96-79 rout of defending champ Dacin.
KKL coaching staff and players gave Hawkins a lot of credits, saying that Hawkins is a unselfish and all-around player who plays hard and does not care how many shots he took.
Meanwhile, Sanders showed his defensive skill when he limited Dacin top scorer Tien Lei to less than 10 points.
KKL 80-77 Yulon
KKL: Hawkins 24p+9rb, Cheng Jen-wei 24p, Lin Chih-lung 10p
Yulon: Tseng Wen-ting 20p+13rb, Lee Hsueh-lin 10p
PY 96-79 Dacin
PY: Sanders 30p+10rb, Hung Chih-shan 22p, James Mao 18p+5a
Daciin: Wang Chih-chun 22p, Chang Chih-feng 18p, Byron Allen 13p+8rb
TM 78-73 BOT
TM: Ouyang Ching-heng 31p, Wu Yung-jen 13p, Hsu Wei-sheng 11rb+5a
BOT: Chen Shun-hsiang 15p, Sun Huan-po 15p, Hsu Chih-chang 13p+12rb
Standing:
1. KKL 1-0
1. TM 1-0
3. Dacin 1-1
3. Yulon 1-1
3. PY 1-1
6. TB 0-1
6. BOT 0-1
(Photos: ESPN Taiwan, UDN, Apple Daily, Liberty Times)