China national team forward and current CBA domestic MVP Yi Jianlian. (Photo : Getty Images)
Fourth-seeded Guangdong Southern Tigers kept their 2016 Chinese Basketball Association playoffs campaign alive by nipping top seed Liaoning Flying Leopards, 97-96, in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinals series held at the Benxi Gymnasium in Liaoning, China on Wednesday, March 2nd.
Xinhuanet noted that the Southern Tigers "controlled Game 3 until the last quarter" to make sure they will still have one more game to play in the current season after surrendering games 1 and 2 to the Flying Leopards with scores of 116-114 and 103-88 respectively.
Guangdong started with the low-scoring game strong, coming with an 18-13 run in the first quarter then extending their lead to nine points at the end of the second to finish the half with a 45-36 advantage.
The 36 points scored by Liaoning was one of the team's lowest scoring outputs in a half this season.
The Flying Leopards managed to recover in the third quarter, though, scoring 30 points in the period, but the Southern Tigers still outscored them by two points.
With Guangdong leading by 11 points entering the fourth period, 77-66, Liaoning mustered enough energy to try and pull off a comeback win as point guard Lester Hudson took advantage of the absence of nemesis Southern Tigers point guard Zhou Zhandong by exploding with 19 points in the quarter.
Hudson's heroics was not enough for the hosts, though, even as they outscored the visitors by ten points, 30-20, in the payoff period to lose by a single point.
Domestic MVP Yi Jianlian starred for Guangdong, scoring a team-high 26 points, including four three-point bombs, and collaring ten rebounds with two assists en route to their upset win, as per Asia-basket.
Yi was supported by the Southern Tigers' Nigerian-American import Ike Diogu, who fired 21 points and grabbed four rebounds in 33 minutes of playing time coming off the bench. The team's other import, American shooting guard Justin Carter, had 16 points, seven rebounds, and five assists in a brilliant all-around game for head coach Du Feng's squad.
Meanwhile, Liaoning was spearheaded by the two-time CBA MVP Hudson, who scored a game-high 34 points and also had five rebounds and two assists. Former Boston Celtic power forward Shavlik Randolph had 20 markers and five boards in only 28 minutes of play off the bench.
Guard Guo Ailun and forward Li Xiaoxu had 17 and 12 points respectively and have also contributed a combined 14 rebounds and four assists for the Flying Leopards.
Game 4 will be held on Friday, March 4th at the Dongguan Basketball Center in Guangdong.
