Liaoning Flying Leopards guard Lester Hudson. (Photo : Imagine China)
Former National Basketball Association combo guard Lester Hudson scattered 35 points to lead the Liaoning Flying Leopards past a hard-fighting Guangdong Southern Tigers five, 102-100, in a Chinese Basketball Association match at the Benxi Gymnasium on Sunday.
Liaoning kicked off the opening period with a quick 5-0 run via a field goal from 7-foot-1 big man Han Dejun and a three-point shot from New Orleans Pelicans trainee forward He Tianju but were then held scoreless for almost seven minutes by the harassing Guangdong defense, as reported by Xinhuanet.
The Southern Tigers executed a 21-0 blitz before the Leopards could answer, making it a 26-9 game in favor of the visitors after the first quarter.
Head coach Guo Shiqiang's squad got behind by as much as 22 points in the second quarter as his team continued to struggle to put the ball into the basket. An 8-0 run was not able to close the gap as the hosts remained down by the same figure during halftime, 57-35.
However, the Leopards came alive in the third canto, unleashing a huge 32-19 rally in the period to trim down the Tiger's lead to nine points going into the fourth quarter, 76-67.
It was all Liaoning in the payoff period as they finally overtook Guangdong, 84-83, with six minutes remaining on the game clock, as per China.org.
Tigers small forward Zhu Fangyu, the CBA's All-Time scoring leader, drained a three-pointer late in the game to put his team up by one, 100-99, but Hudson countered with a three-point shot of his own to seal the game's final count at 102-100.
The victory was Liaoning's eighth consecutive win and 11th in their last 12 outings to move up to the fourth spot of the current CBA standings, only a game behind third-running Zhejiang Guangsha Lions.
