Guangdong ties winning streak record, Beijing moves up to third

QINGDAO, China - The Guangdong Southern Tigers tied the 26-game winning streak record they set five years ago after holding off the Zhejiang Lions 104-97, while the Beijing Ducks climbed to third place following a 90-81 victory over the Shenzhen Aviators in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) here on Thursday.

Guangdong's previous record of 26 victories in a row was ended by Zhejiang in the 2014/15 season, but this time Zhejiang could not stop the reigning champions from running wild.

Guangdong's Sonny Weems scored a game-high 25 points along with 10 rebounds. Yi Jianlian also posted a double-double of 16 points and 12 boards. Zhao Rui and Ren Junfei added 15 and 13, respectively.

Guangdong raced ahead with a 7-0 run midway through the first quarter, and Yi's fast-break dunk earned them a 32-25 advantage at the end of the period.

Yi finished two easy baskets early in the second quarter to build a 10-plus-point advantage for Guangdong, who led 55-49 at the interval.

With Zhao and Weems contributing on the offensive end, Guangdong kept their margin over 10 points, while Sun Minghui and Liu Cheng put Zhejiang within striking distance in the third quarter. However, Zhejiang's inadequate rebound protection was well exposed as Guangdong's substitute center Su Wei got the chance of finishing a second-chance basket at the buzzer.

Li Jinglong's two consecutive shots from downtown helped Zhejiang cut the deficit to just one point, but Guangdong stayed solid to pull away from the game with a 7-0 spurt.

Liu led Zhejiang's attack with 20 points. Sun put 19 points on the scoreboard and dished out seven assists. Li and Hu Jinqiu had 15 apiece.

Beijing extended its winning streak to seven matches and made the most of Zhejiang's defeat to climb up to third on the standings.

Shenzhen built a 13-7 lead after the tip-off before Beijing regained the lead through Jeremy Lin's 11 points.

In a close second quarter contention, Beijing managed a six-point lead when the first half ran out.

The Ducks broadened the margin to 11 points after Ekpe Udoh made a driving layup at the buzzer of the third quarter, which also saw Lin harvest 12 points.

Beijing's other guard Fang Shuo took center stage in the final period with 10 points, including two three-pointers, to seal his team's win.

Lin contributed a game-high 29 points. Zhai Xiaochuan collected 15 points and Fang finished with 14 points.

Also, on Thursday, five players scored in double digits as the Guangzhou Loong Lions beat the Jiangsu Dragons 107-100 to get over their six-game losing streak.

Guangzhou clawed back from an eight-point deficit and took a 51-50 lead instead into the halftime.

Two sides traded the lead several times back from the locker room. Chen Yingjun's reliable performance on the free-throw line provided a decisive seven-point lead for Guangzhou with 25 seconds left.

Guangzhou's Marcus Georges-Hunt collected a triple-double of 30 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, making Antonio Blakeney's game-high 46 points and 12 rebounds in vain for Jiangsu.