The Guangsha Lions defeated the Qingdao Eagles 101-96 in Game 5 of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) postseason quarterfinals in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, on Wednesday.Guangsha, as the regular season leaders, will face the defending champions Liaoning Flying Leopards in the semifinals.
Guangsha had lost all of their previous six meetings against Liaoning in the playoffs.Guangsha's ace scorer Barry Brown Jr.
struggled to make shots as he missed 11 of his 15 field goals, including all six within the three-point line.
However, he still managed to make key offensive contributions with nine assists, the second-highest on the team's roster, behind only 10 by Sun Minghui.
Regular season Most Valuable Player (MVP) got a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds.Qingdao had Yang Hansen play off the bench and the 2.18m giant contributed 16 points, 11 rebounds and one block in 36 minutes.
Quinndary Weatherspoon was their best-performing player on the offensive end with 24 points and eight assists.
His efforts were why the battle remained close until the final minutes.Guangsha trailed 29-28 after the first quarter, but outscored Qingdao 25-19 in the second to lead 53-48 in the first half.
The hosts' consistency on both ends extended their advantage to 13 points at most, 77-64, after Joshua Carlton made a jumper in transition.
Jordan Mickey earned two free throws at the end of the quarter and made one to make sure that the visitors trailed by single digits at 79-70 before the final quarter.Qingdao's rally in the fourth quarter was led by Weatherspoon and Yang.
They cut the deficit to four points at 92-88 when Yang's offensive rebound was turned into a layup by Weatherspoon.
Nonetheless, then Qingdao kept allowing offensive rebounds, which cost them the decider in the end.Game 1 between Guangsha and Liaoning will take place in Hangzhou on Saturday.
The other matchup will be between the Shanxi Loongs and Beijing Ducks and start from Game 1 in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, on Sunday.