CHN – Guangdong and Xinjiang take command

BEIJING (CBA) - Guangdong Tigers ripped apart DongGuan Leopards 146-88 and Xinjiang Flying Tigers routed Jiangsu Dragons 94-78 to secure away wins in Game 1 of the CBA semi-finals on Sunday.

Guangdong and Xinjiang, who had finished with the higher rankings in the Regular Season, host the next two games of the best-of-five semifinals on Wednesday and Friday.

Team effort

Guangdong opened strongly and led 30-21 at the end of the first quarter before moving up a gear as they took the second 36-13. A 38-33 advantage in the third quarter furthered their position while Li ChunJiang’s team finished even stronger still with a whopping 42-21 run in the fourth.

Li fielded all his players – for six minutes each at least – and all of them scored.

Zhou Peng was the highest scorer with 27 points and Zhu Fangyu (pic above) had 22 points.

Nigerian Josh Emmanuel-Akognon led DongGuan’s scoring with a consolatory game-high 30 points.

Xinjiang in complete control

The Regular Season champions nosed ahead 26-25 at the end of the first quarter before exploding into a 24-16 run in the second. A 22-17 run in the third quarter gave Xinjiang a comfortable lead and the team wrapped things up with clinical precision in the fourth.

Quincy Douby lead Xinjiang’s scoring with 25 points and James Singleton had 20 points. Mengke Bateer had a double double – 13 points and a dozen rebounds.

Antoine Wright’s 21 points was the highest for Jiangsu.

FIBA /FIBA Asia