Bayi embraces first victory of the season

BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- All the starting five of Bayi scored in double-digit at home court against Tianjin, embracing the first win of the season 100-86 in the 15th round of the 2017-2018 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league on Tuesday.

Bayi, the only team without foreign players in CBA, suffered 14 consecutive losses since the beginning of the season and sit at the bottom. Tianjin, with only 3 victories in the previous rounds, has never won an away game by now.

Eli Holman, powerful center of Tianjin, earned a game-high 40 points, nearly half of the total score of the entire team .

In the battle for the top position of the table, the visiting Shangdong beat Jiangsu 111-99. The two teams, together with Liaoning, shared the same top spot with an identical record of 11 wins and 3 losses before the game. Liaoning will meet Jijin on Wednesday at home.

Marshon Brooks of Jiangsu contributed a team-high 30 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists, but missed 18 shots out of 34 attempts. The rising star Ding Yanyuhang of Shangdong, with the seasonal average 26.2 points, finished the crucial shots in the last quarter and sealed the victory. Shangdong made 22 points at the free-throw line, 8 more than the opponents.

Memi Becirovic, head coach of Jiangsu, told Xinhua the players felt some pressure before the game and did not play well in the second quarter and were 20 points behind.

"It's difficult to play against Shangdong," said Becirovic, "it's hard to defend Ding and he could always score at the key moment."

Elsewhere on Tuesday, the visiting Aolong edged Sichuan 100-99. Shavlik Randolph of Aolong contributed the game-high 40 points and 40-year-old Stephon Marbury got 8 points in 30 minutes.

Shanxi, ranked 15th in the league, claimed a surprising win at home over Xinjiang 116-114. Former NBA Rockets forward Luis Scola scored a team-high 37 points. Darius Adams of Xinjiang scored 51 points with 38 attempts in 47.2 minutes.

Qingdao lost to Guangsha 113-105, and the 20-year-old Hu Jinqiu of the visiting team earned 30 points and 9 rebounds.