DONGGUAN, China, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Liaoning routed Tianjin 91-59 on Friday night for its fourth straight victory in the men's basketball tournament at the 15th Chinese National Games.
Facing Liaoning, Gu Zeyu scored 12 in the first quarter, giving Tianjin a 22-19 lead. Liaoning turned the game around midway through the second quarter with Zhao Jiwei's free throw putting them ahead 27-26. Before the half break, a 9-4 scoring run allowed Liaoning to lead 42-37.
Zhao helped Liaoning widen the gap early in the third quarter. Although Gu had 14 points in that period, Liaoning center Han Dejun responded with 10 points in less than five minutes, bringing his team a 69-55 lead before the final period.
Tianjin attempted a late comeback but never posed a real threat, suffering its first loss of the tournament.
Han and Zhao scored 21 points each, Yuan Shuai added 18 points. Fu Hao of Liaoning had 15 points and 16 rebounds.
"In the first period, we were too nervous to play good offense. After a halftime adjustment, we did much better," Yuan Shuai told Xinhua.
"All of our players have somewhat either injuries or illnesses. We need to rest and recover well in the next days, in order to have good performances in the knockout stage," Yuan added.
Title favorite Sichuan kept its unbeaten record in the tournament after rolling past Shanghai 82-63, taking the first place in Group III.
Shanghai hit six three-pointers in the opening quarter to take a 28-19 lead, but went 0-for-6 from beyond the arc in the second as Sichuan rallied to go up 42-32 at halftime.
With former NBA player Zhou Qi and CBA regular-season MVP Hu Jinqiu anchoring the paint, Sichuan tightened its defense in the second half, denying Shanghai any chance of a comeback.
Elsewhere, Beijing beat Jilin 126-83, while Hong Kong saw off Hubei 105-82.
The preliminaries will conclude on Saturday, with the top two of each group and the two best third-place finishers qualifying for the quarterfinals.
