On the back of Bryan Davis’ (Kinmen Kaoliang) record-breaking 50-point effort, Team White rallied from two down with less than a minute to play to top Team Red 119-117 in the Super Basketball League’s annual All-Star Game at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night.
It was one of the most dominating performances by an individual player in the event’s history, placing the former Texas A&M standout in the record books, while landing him the Most Valuable Player honor along with a hefty NT$10,000 prize.
“I wanted to win so badly, so I had to give it my best,” Davis said after the game.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
His strong drive to the basket with a reverse layup finish broke a 117-all tie with 3.4 seconds remaining in the game to give Team White the victory.
Even though Team Red managed to get the final shot off with Patrick O’Bryant (Taiwan Beer) launching a long three-point attempt with the clock expiring, the ball bounced off the rim to end the game.
Seven three’s by O’Bryant on a 25-point effort powered Team Red to a lead that they held for much of the game as the Brew Crew’s big man showed off his newly acquired shooting range.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
However, with the game and NT$66,000 in prize money for the winning team on the line, it was Lin Guan-luen’s (Dacin Tigers) nerve-wracking three with 34.4 seconds remaining that rallied Team White from a 115-114 deficit to a two-point lead.
That did not stop Team Red from tying the game up at 117-all with a fade-away jumper by Liu Cheng (Taiwan Beer) with 8.3 seconds left on the clock, setting the stage for Davis’ game-winning play.
In addition to being named the All-Star Game’s MVP, Bryan Davis also won the annual slam dunk contest earlier yesterday with a monstrous throw-down that saw him soar over 218cm-tall James Tyler (Bank of Taiwan) for a perfect 50-point dunk to edge Norvel Pelle.
“I guess the night really belonged to me,” Davis said.
He pocketed NT$30,000 for the dunk competition to go with his MVP winnings to collect NT$60,000 in total.
In the three-point shootout, Pure Youth Construction guard Lin Li-ren with 15 points outshot household names such as Lu Cheng-rue (Luxgens), Chen Hsuan-hsiang (Bank of Taiwan) and O’Bryant in a five-man final round to pull off an upset win. The NT$30,000 in prize money was a pleasant year-end bonus for the reserve guard, whose modest monthly salary of NT$50,000 is among the lowest in the league.
“[The prize money] means a lot to me because it is more than a half-month’s pay for me,” Lin said after the competition.
In the technical skills challenge, rookie Yulon Luxgen guard Lu Guan-liang made the most of his late entry in the event — due to an injury to teammate Chiang Shih-fong — by winning with an 18.01 second finish.
“I really can’t believe that I did it,” an excited Lu said after the event.
He won NT$30,000 for his surprising effort.
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