Guo Ailun (C) of Liaoning Flying Leopards shoots during the 45th round match between Zhejiang Lions and Liaoning Flying Leopards at the 2020-2021 season of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league in Zhuji, east China's Zhejiang Province, March 12, 2021. (Xinhua/Jiang Han)
ZHUJI, China, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Zhao Yanhao had a game-high 32 points to give the Zhejiang Lions a 109-102 victory over the Liaoning Flying Leopards in the CBA here on Friday.
Zhao made 9 of 12 shots and 10 of 11 free throws, scoring 19 points in the first half. The 23-year-old point guard contributed 33 points when Zhejiang beat Liaoning last week.
Sun Minghui finished with 17 points and 12 assists for Zhejiang, and Hu Jinqiu added 25 points. Kay Felder went scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting.
"I am glad we had 31 assists today, the way we played is the way how we prepared. Our players kept their focus on the court all the time no matter what happened," said Zhejiang coach Wang Bo.
Liaoning, who had won two straight, lost five of the last six games against Zhejiang in regular season. Guo Ailun notched 22 points while Han Dejun had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Liaoning.
Liaoning fell behind by 14 points in the first quarter but scored 10 in a row to get back in the game. Zhao scored a pair of 3-pointers to help Zhejiang extend the lead to 45-29 in the second. None of the Liaoning players scored more than 10 points as Zhejiang ended the first half with a 51-37 lead.
"We had a horrible first half, especially in offense. The game is not in our tempo today," Liaoning head coach Yang Ming said.
Guo led an 8-2 spurt to cut the deficit to eight points to open the third quarter, but Zhejiang took its largest lead of the game by 19 points.
Liaoning wasn't quite done, pulling within 94-86 on Zhao Jiwei's three-point play with four minutes left. Zhejiang pushed the lead back to 10 before Hu made a lay-up with 48 seconds to put the game away. Enditem
