CBA Roundup: Liaoning lose to Jilin, Guangdong keep leading

CBA powerhouse Liaoning had an excellent fourth quarter on Sunday, but that wasn't enough for them to get a victory.

The half-season leader of CBA lost to Jilin 120-117 to suffer the second loss in their last three games.

Jilin had a seventh straight win. Dominique Jones had 57 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists. Denzel Bowles added 20 points and six rebounds. Li An finished with 13 points.

Liaoning were still at the second place on the CBA standings, but was two games behind Guangdong, who extended the winning streak to 24 games on the same day.

Liaoning center Han Dejun got the first basket for Liaoning, but Jones responded with nine straight points to help Jilin lead 9-4. Liaoning returned with and 7-2 run, and tied the score 21-21. The two teams ended the first quarter 27-27.

Jones kept his hot shooting rhythm in the second quarter. Liaoning shooters couldn't find the rim, and Jilin dashed away by leading 63-51 at half time.

Jilin opened the third quarter 7-0 to widen the gap to as many as 19 points. Liaoning tried to fight back, but the defense wasn't good enough to stop Jilin scorers, especially Jones.

Liaoning started to trim the gap in the final quarter. Lester Hudson hit a three-pointer with 90 seconds left to level the score 113-113, but Jilin did a better job on the free-throw line, closing the game with three-point advantage.

Hudson had 41 points and 14 rebounds for Liaoning. Han Dejun and Yang Ming had 19 and 18 points respectively.

League leader Guangdong had an easy win, beating Shanghai 127-102.

Will Bynum and Yi Jianlian had 31 points apiece for Guangdong. CBA all-time top scorer Zhu Fangyu added 25.

In other games on Sunday, Foshan tamed Sichuan 120-103, Zhejiang beat Jiangsu 124-114, Dongguan downed Bayi 84-77, Chongqing edged Fujian 107-102, Xinjiang smashed Shandong 150-119, Tianjin defeated Beijing 105-104, Tongxi moved over Guangsha 109-101, Shanxi got past Qingdao 124-114.