The Beijing Ducks and the Zhejiang Lions made their way to the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) quarterfinals after winning their best-of-three first round 2-0 on
Following their 44-point rout at home on Monday, Beijing continued their momentum to crush the Jilin Northeast Tigers 127-102 to take revenge for their loss on the same stage last season.
Jilin eliminated Beijing 2-0 in the series to reach the last eight in the 2021-22 season.
Ty Leaf scored 26 points and hauled down 12 rebounds. Jonathan Gibson helped with 20 points, and three other Beijing players cracked double digits in points.
Beijing raced to a 37-22 lead after the first quarter and pushed it to 22 points at the intermission. Beijing never relinquished their comfortable lead in the second half.
Dominique Jones, who was injured during the last game, went scoreless in less than 10 minutes of action in what could be his last game for Jilin. Li An led Jilin with 25 points.
Four players scored in double digits as Zhejiang got past the Shanxi Loongs 111-96.
Hu Jinqiu and Kyle Wiltjer had 24 points apiece for Zhejiang. Sun Minghui contributed a double-double of 19 points and 15 assists.
Zhao Yanhao and Sun moved Zhejiang ahead after the tip-off with consecutive shots from beyond the arc, while Hu followed in with several baskets in the paint as Zhejiang built a 13-point lead with four minutes remaining in the first quarter. With five 3-pointers made, Zhejiang went ahead 32-18 as the quarter expired.
A tenacious Shanxi began to put on their efforts to come back into contention from the outset of the second quarter. Shanxi trimmed their deficit to one point with four minutes to play following Kay Felder's jumper. Chang Lin's easy basket moved Shanxi ahead 47-46, their first lead since the first quarter, and it was followed by Felder's 3-pointer. Shanxi outscored Zhejiang 34-20 down the stretch and the two teams tied at 52-52 at halftime.
Zhejiang once set up a five-point cushion midway through the third period, while Shanxi responded strongly and went up 75-74 through Jonathon Simmons' shot from 3-point range.
Zhejiang rode on an 11-0 in a span of over two minutes to pull away early in the fourth quarter.
The game flared up with 6:08 to go when Shanxi forward Xing Zhiqiang and Zhejiang's Zhao Jiaren contended for a loose ball. Xing appeared to throw the ball on Zhao's face, and was later ejected by match officials after video review.
Zhejiang extended their advantage to 19 points through Wiltjer's 3-pointer with five minutes remaining and controlled the game from there.
Shanxi also had four players in double-figure scoring. Chang and Simmons had 21 points each, while Felder and Ge Zhaobao scored 18 apiece.
In the best-of-three quarterfinals, Beijing will face the third-ranked Liaoning Flying Leopards, while Zhejiang will meet the second-placed Guangdong Southern Tigers.
Seven quarterfinalists have been confirmed after Wednesday's matches, with the Shanghai Sharks and the Jiangsu Dragons vying for the last spot in Friday's decider.
