Beijing, Guangzhou enjoy 2-0 lead in CBA quarterfinals

BEIJING -- Both Beijing Ducks and Guangdong Southeast Tiger reaped their respective second straight victories to lead 2-0 in the best-of-five quarterfinals of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league on Wednesday.

Beijing Ducks beat Shenzhen Leopards 104-88, clinching their second straight win on the road, with Game 3 to be played on home turf on Saturday.

Beijing turned out to be more efficient, scoring 53 percent of their shooting attempts, against 38 percent of Shenzhen.

Justin Hamilton grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds as well as 33 points for Beijing. Point guard Aaron Jackson had 21 points and five assists. Fang Shuo added 15 points.

Beijing led the first quarter 24-22 before Shenzhen beat the visitors to overtake the lead in the second quarter, but managed to regain their advantage through fast breaks from Jackson and Fang.

Shenzhen trimmed the deficit to five points with four minutes left in the final quarter, only to see Beijing extend the gap again with Hamilton's strong performance in the paint.

After losing two games at home, Shenzhen will travel to Beijing to play the do-or-die Game 3.

Center Li Muhao had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Shenzhen.

In another quarterfinal on Wednesday, Guangdong Southeast Tigers enjoyed an easy home win over short-handed Jiangsu Dragons in Dongguan, scoring their 100th point during the third quarter en route to their home victory of 141-99.

Guangdong also lead the series 2-0 and will travel to Suzhou for Game 3 on Saturday.