The Zhejiang Golden Bulls won a hard-fought game against the Shandong Heroes 101-100, while the Jilin Northeast Tigers handed the Beijing Royal Fighters a bitter
The Heroes and the Golden Bulls went for fierce attacks right after the tip-off. A powerful dunk by Troy Gillenwater heralded a fearsome 6-0 run, leading to a 30-20 advantage for Shandong in the first quarter. Later on, Zhejiang's Wang Zilu and Wu Qian retaliated with accurate three-pointers, but Shandong managed to widen the gap to 13 points before the last 12 minutes.
However, Zhejiang went all-out in the seemingly see-sawing last quarter and closed the gap with accurate free throws. Carlik Jones laid up a key shot to overtake the upper hand with only 17 seconds left, pushing Shandong to a time-out. After Marial Shayok scored two points for Shandong, Jones ensured the victory for Zhejiang with a marksman jump shot.
Wu Qian scored 20 points, followed by 14 points respectively from Wang Zilu and Jones. Yu Jiahao pocketed a "double-double" of 10 points and 11 rebounds. On the Shandong side, Shayok pocketed 24 points, with Gillenwater, Chen Peidong, and Jia Cheng also scoring double-digits.
Another fixture on Monday witnessed a tit-for-tat match between the Beijing Royal Fighters and the Jilin Northeast Tigers.
Beijing started strong and built an 11-point advantage over Jilin at halftime, while Jilin's Jiang Yuxing and Zhong Cheng unleashed a flurry of shots, cutting 13 points and tying the score at 76-76 before the last quarter. The two teams then exchanged scores until the last minute of the match, with Dai Huaibo's last three-pointer tipping the balance 110-107 and securing Jilin's prevail.
Also on Monday, the Shenzhen Aviators routed the Tianjin Pioneers 103-89, and the Liaoning Flying Leopards pocketed a close win over the Shanghai Sharks 111-107.
