Liaoning stay in CBA top 4 after beating Beikong on road

The Liaoning Flying Leopards beat the Beikong Royal Fighters 115-100 on the road in Beijing on Wednesday night. They remain in fourth place, a position that will enable them to get a bye in the first round of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) playoffs, if they maintain their ranking.

Liaoning saw triples made by multiple players in the first quarter which ended with a 10-point lead for the visitors at 29-19. Dez Wells and Fu Hao continued to provide consistent firepower for Liaoning as the second quarter began. By contrast, Beikong fell into a two-minute scoring drought and watched their deficit grow to 14 points at 35-21.

Beikong's suffering continued after putting Grant Riller on the bench. They committed a series of turnovers on the offensive end and their defenders couldn't find their targets. After Zhao Jiwei knocked down a three-pointer, Liaoning were ahead 62-40.

The hosts seemed to have bounced back offensively in the second half as Zhang Fan, Liao Sanning and Riller increased their attacks against Liaoning's paint. Nonetheless, they still made it too easy for Liaoning to score. After Li Xiaoxu made his only triple of the game in the fourth quarter, the visitors were increased their advantage to as many as 29 points, 97-68. The contest was long-gone since then before Liaoning secured their 31st win of the season. Zhao, who contributed 19 points, surpassed 5,000 career points.

In the other two games on the night, the Qingdao Eagles walked over the Shanghai Sharks 119-107 at home. Shanghai led 64-58 in the first half, but Kenneth Lofton's ejection in the third quarter became the turning point of the game. They were outscored by Qingdao 61-43 in the second half and suffered their second straight loss.

The Shandong Kirin beat the Xinjiang Flying Tigers 116-79 at home, extending their winning streak to six games. Their smothering defense limited the visitors to no more than 17 and 14 points in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, for an east victory.