ZHUJI, China, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Guangdong Southern Tigers sailed past the Beijing Royal Fighters 109-90 for their eighth consecutive win, while leaders the Zhejiang Golden Bulls smashed the Fujian Sturgeons 110-81 in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) here on Saturday.
Guangdong opened their game with aggressive attacks and enjoyed an 11-0 start, with veteran center Yi Jianlian's 3-pointer followed by another two shots beyond the arc. Guangdong made nine 3-pointers in the first quarter to surge ahead 42-18.
Guangdong rode on fast paces to increase their advantage to 67-39 at halftime, leaving little space for Beijing's fightback. Guangdong built a 35-point advantage into the final quarter and never looked back.
Yi notched a game-high 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 17 minutes of action, and Du Runwang and Wang Xinkai added 16 and 14 points for Guangdong respectively. Zhang Fan led Beijing with 22 points.
The game between Zhejiang and Fujian was also one-sided as Zhejiang started off strongly with an 11-2 start to lead the first half 60-28. After the interval, Fujian made the most of Zhejiang's miscues in defense to score 13 points in a row and cut the deficit to 11 points with six minutes left. However, Zhejiang tightened their grip on the lead afterwards to hand their opponents their fifth consecutive loss.
Zhejiang, who saw a 15-game winning streak snapped by Guangdong in their previous match, continues to lead the standings with a win-loss record of 16-1.
In Saturday's other games, the Jilin Northeast Tigers defeated the Tianjin Pioneers 106-101, and the Qingdao Eagles crushed the winless Ningbo Rockets 126-85. ■
