Guangdong claims men's basketball title at National Games

Guangdong successfully defended their men's basketball title at the Chinese National Games, outgunning hosts Liaoning 69-63 on Thursday.

The match featured a star-packed field with both teams lining up national team players including former NBA player Yi Jianlian and Mengke Bateer.

The hosts lost touch outside of the three point line, earning no points from 13 attempts before guard Zhang Qingpeng buried the first three-pointer for Liaoning with 7 minutes, 22 seconds left on the clock.

Entering the final quarter with a 12-point deficit, Liaoning had a 10-0 run to narrow the gap to two points. Guangdong forward Zhu Fangyu stood out to carry the team on his shoulder, sinking in two straight three-pointers to extend the lead.

The 30-year-old Zhu scored a match-high 25 points including five three-pointers, four years after he collected 40 points in Guangdong's gold-winning victory against Shandong at last Games. Yi added 10 points and three rebounds for Guangdong while point guard Wang Shipeng also grabbed 10 points.

"Zhu Fangyu is the backbone of Guangdong," said Guangdong head coach Du Feng. "His role is not limited to scoring. He is an elder brother, a leader."

National team guard Guo Ailun scored a team-high 15 points and assisted for five times. Center Han Dejun pocketed 14 points while Zhang scored 11 including all the three three-pointers for the hosts in the fourth quarter.