HANGZHOU, China, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Head coach Guo Shiqiang's being ejected and top scorer Lester Hudson's fouling out could not stop Liaoning from taking their opening victory of the CBA playoff here on Saturday.
The second-ranked Liaoning used a 13-0 spurt midway through the final period to see a road victory over Guangsha 100-92, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five first round of 2014-2015 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) playoffs.
Deon Thompson finished with a game-high 29 points and 14 rebounds for Liaoning. Hudson had 24 points and seven assists. Guo Ailun and Liu Zhixuan scored 15 and 10 respectively.
After tying at 23 in the first quarter, the hosts began to get the upper hand in the second period. Thanks to Wang Zheng's dunk and Lin Chih-chieh's three-pointer, they led by 58-52 into halftime.
Guangsha seemed to increase their margin midway through the third quarter, as Guo Shiqiang was ejected due to two consecutive technical fouls for complaining to the referee with four minutes and 28 seconds to go.
Guo refused to leave the court, delaying the match for about ten minutes, before Thompson tied the score at 75 with a layup.
Then Hudson got his 6th personal foul with 55.2 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The only good thing for them is that they built a one-point lead before the fourth quarter.
Liaoning's Most Valuable Player (MVP) candidate Han Dejun got his first point in this match with 8:33 remaining, helping his team tie the score at 83.
Wang Zheng's three-point play and Zhang Wei's layup gave Guangsha a 90-85 lead, before Liaoning took a 13-0 run to come back, capped by Liu Zhixuan's layup. Guangsha's consecutive timeouts seemed worthless then.
Five Guangsha players hit double-figure points, led by Wang Zheng's 18.
The second game between the two sides will be held next Monday, in Liaoning's home court.