CHN – Xinjiang, Guangdong take 2-0 lead in semi-finals

BEIJING (CBA) - Regular season champions Xinjiang Flying Tigers and Guangdong Tigers firmed up their grip on the CBA semi-finals by comfortably winning Game 2 of their respective series – both at home – on Wednesday.

Xinjiang got off to a perfect start against Jiangsu Dragons, taking a double-digit lead in the first quarter as they cruised to a 112-91 win.

Guangdong, who finished second behind Xinjiang in the regular season, didn’t have much to worry in beating DongGuan Leopards 123-115.

Both Xinjiang and Guangdong can wrap up their series when they host Game 3 on Friday.

Early avalanche

Xinjiang unleashed an early avalanche racing ahead 31-16 at the end of the opening period and only had to play out the clock thereafter.

American Quincy Douby went for a game-high 41 points on 11 of 19 shooting.

His fellow countryman James Singleton added 20 points, while Xu GuoChong (pictured) hit four three-pointers on his way to 19 points. Mengke Bateer took care of the boards, grabbing 10 rebounds.

Yi Li and Antoine Wright each scored 19 points for Jiangsu.

Guangdong's balanced offense

Six players scored in double-digits in Guangdong's balanced offense.

Having led 30-23 at the end of the first quarter, the home side stretched their advantage to 71-57 at the break before warding off DongGuan’s feeble fightback in the second half.

Lester Hudson had 30 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals for Guangdong.

Chinese international Du Feng added 21 points and Marcus Haislip finished with 20.

Nigerian Josh-Emmanuel Akognon led the scoring for DongGuan with 31 points. The other import Courtney Simms had 20 points and Qiu Biao 21.

FIBA Asia