Roundup: Defending champion Xinjiang opens CBA new season with tough win

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The 2017-2018 CBA season started on Saturday with defending champion Xinjiang's 106-95 victory over Jilin.

Xinjiang guard Darius Adams ruled the game with 38 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Yu Changdong added 20.

Xinjiang received the CBA championship ring before the game, but Jilin tried hard enough to make the night tough for the host team.

Jilin was ranked 14th in the 20-team league last season. The Northeastern China team recruited two ex-NBA players Von Wafer and Carl Landry this season to fight for a play-off spot.

Xinjiang had a good start by leading 19-11 in the first half of the opening quarter, but Landry's unstoppable scoring in the painting area trimmed the gap to 1 point by the end of the period.

Jilin did a good job to keep up with the host team, until the defending champion delivered a 9-0 run to close the third quarter 83-73.

Jilin moved within six points in the final period, only to see Adams buried a couple of three pointers to clinch the victory.

Landry had 35 points for Jilin. Wafer and local shooter Cai Lilong took home 17 and 14 points respectively.

"We didn't do enough to guard Landry and Wafer, but we did a good job on the offensive side by scoring more than 100," said Xinjiang head coach Li Qiuping who received last season's best coach reward from Chinese Basketball Association chief Yao Ming on the very night.

The 40-year-old CBA star Stephon Marbury passed his first regular season game as Beijing Aolong player with a loss. Aolong was outscored 119-113 by Tongxi, and Marbury collected 22 points and four assists.

In another game on Saturday, Qingdao edged Tianjin 119-117.