Liaoning crushes Xinjiang to reach semifinals, Qingdao edges Guangsha to take upper hand in CBA Playoffs

In the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) Playoffs, three-time defending champions the Liaoning Flying Leopards crushed the Xinjiang Flying Tigers 101-79 on Friday to sweep their quarterfinal series 3-0, and reach the semifinals for the 11th year in a row.

Montrezl Harrell's dunk put Xinjiang ahead 24-22 in the first quarter, before Xerzat Samat dished to Dedric Lawson for a layup that extended the Flying Tigers' edge to 37-33 in the second period, with their backs against the wall at home.

But Dez Wells drove in for a lay-up and the first half ended with Liaoning leading 49-46.

Returning from the break, the American guard added another lay-up to help the Flying Leopards increase the lead to 12, on his way to scoring a game-high 25 points.

Zhao Jiwei drilled a couple of three-pointers in the fourth quarter, as Liaoning to enlarged the gap to 96-68.

The Flying Leopards went on to win 101-79, as they swept the rematch of last year's CBA Finals, and reached the last four for the 11th straight season.

The Qingdao Eagles hosted the Guangsha Lions in the night's other contest, and continued their bid for what would be a shocking series upset, after claiming a narrow 85-83 victory.

Duan Angjun nailed a three-pointer from the corner, and eighth-seeded Qingdao led 63-48 in the third quarter.

But top-seeded Guangsha battled back, and Zhao Jiaren cut the deficit to five points, 63-58 with a minute remaining in the period.

Barry Brown gave the Lions the lead in the final quarter with three of his team-high 25 points. The American guard then drained another triple to tie the score at 83-83 with 42 seconds to go.

But Quinndary Weatherspoon, who finished with a game-high 30 points, put the Eagles ahead with 16 seconds left.

Brown air-balled a last-second three-pointer before Hu Jinqiu grabbed the rebound and appeared to score. But a review by the referees showed that the follow-up effort came after the final buzzer, and Qingdao escaped with a heartstopping two-point win to take an unexpected 2-1 lead in their best-of-five series against regular season champion Guangsha.