The Southern Conference beat the Northern Conference 106-103 at the 2021 CBA All-Star Rookie Challenge in Qingdao City, east China's Shandong Province on Saturday, as Zhang Zhenlin of Liaoning won the trophy of the Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Falling behind with 4-0, the Northern Conference raced ahead 12-10 after Lin Weihan buried a three-pointer and led with 24-22 when the first quarter ran out.

The Northern Conference took a three-point advantage when the first half ended, as Zhang and Lutpulla combined with 15 points.

At the halftime break, Zhu Fangyu, general manager of the Guangdong Southern Tigers, led the southern rookies to beat the northern rookies, headed by former NBA star Stephon Marbury, 15-5 in a shooting contest, which delivered a 57-50 lead to the Southern Conference.

The North turned over the table soon, as Zhang contributed 10 points in the third quarter, but the South regained its advantage in the last period.

After Yuan Tangwen hit a perimeter shot with 16 seconds remaining, the Southern Conference led with 106-103. Center Wang Shaojie missed a three-pointer just before the buzzer and had to see the southern rookies cheer their victory.

Zhang finished with 24 points and seven rebounds for the North. He Siyu grabbed 13 points, Chen Peidong had 10 points, and Wang got six points and 15 rebounds.

Zhu Songwei scored a team-high of 16 points for the South. Zhao Yiming and Zhang Hao pocketed 13 points each, and Jiang Haoran added 11 points.

Wu Yongsheng, Zhang Ning, Feng Xin and Zhao Yanhao became the finalists of the Technics Challenge.

Chen Linjian, Zhang Fan and Hu Mingxuan qualified for the Three-Point Shooting Contest final.

The newly crowned MVP Zhang, Chen Dengxing and Lu Pengyu headed into the Dunk Contest final.

The CBA All-Star game and the finals of the three contests will be held on Sunday.