Xire Lijiang of the Xinjiang Flying Tigers shields the ball against Li Xuelin of the Beijing Ducks during Friday's CBA game in Beijing. Photo: CFP

Friday's results

In a clash between two title contenders, the Beijing Ducks were edged down by the Xin­jiang Flying Tigers on Friday night  97-92 at the MasterCard Center in Beijing.

The Four Flying Tigers reached double figures in scoring, led by Lester Hudson with 26 points. The former NBA player also delivered 10 rebounds to the visitors' 10th straight win, putting an end to Beijing's winning streak at three.

Poor rebounding and free throws resulted in Beijing being left behind in the first quarter at 21-28, but they quickly found their range in the second quarter to make a comeback at 44-43.

Solid defending and the Ducks' strings of errors left the hosts surpassed again in the third quarter at 61-68.

Xinjiang expanded their lead to 15 points after Yang Jingmin made a three-pointer count as the scoreboard showed 80-65, pushing Beijing's coach Min Lulei to call a timeout.

It was Randolph Morris who led the Ducks to narrow the gap, after the visitors suddenly lost their way in attacking. Sun Yue's shot beyond the arc edged Beijing into a only one-point gap but their comeback was finally denied by the Flying Tigers' solid free throws.

Min was dissatisfied with his side's performance, as he said that errors and rebounding were the main reasons for the loss.

"We were poor in attacking at the third quarter, with a lot of errors and we were outnumbered in rebounding, I'm not satisfied for the game."

Cui Wanjun, Min's counterpart, indicated the key for the win was his preparation for the clash.

"We did well in defending, as we had limited their shots well.

"But we were a little fluctuating in the last quarter, a huge lead was given away easily."

Cui singled out Su Wei as his marking of Morris helped the team a lot, but Su remained calm.

"I just want to help my team with 100 percent of me. While it's the tenth successive win, it is still one regular-season match, the season is still long and I just hope we can keep our form in the upcoming games," Su said.

Friday also saw an sensational game between the Sichuan Blue Whales and the Dongguan Leopards that went into overtime twice. Dongguan's Bobby Brown ended his on-fire night with a buzzer-beater at a sensational 74 points.

But a four-player send-off in the third quarter of the match caused by Li Muhao, Leopards' power forward, throwing an elbow, drew most attention. The game was paused for nearly 10 minutes.

Global Times