BEIJING, Dec. 13 -- The 16th round of Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) witnessed two seesaw battles on Friday as the Shenzhen Aviators edged the visiting Tianjin Pioneers 92-87, while Sichuan Blue Whales won over Jiangsu Dragons 108-105 at home.
He Xining hit six shots in nine attempts for 16 points in the first half. Shenzhen led 23-20 in the opening quarter, before boosting a 11-1 spurt in the second quarter to extend the advantage 52-37.
The visiting side bounced back strongly in the third quarter thanks to Chasson Randle came off the bench for 14 points, but Shenzhen remained in upper hand, leading 76-64 into the final quarter, when Tianjin played tough defense to cut the deficit to 90-87 with 29.5 seconds remaining in the game.
At clutch time, Dwight Buycks penetrated into the paint to score a tough layup and drew a critical foul. Although he missed the free throw, Li Muhao grabbed the offensive rebound to seal the 92-87 victory for the host.
He Xining got a team-high 25 points in only 13 shots for the Aviators, while Jarell Martin and Buycks contributed 21 and 20 points respectively.
Randle scored 35 points in 30 attempts for the visitors, who delivered terrible performance from free throw line, only hitting six out of 13 shots.
Elsewhere on Friday, the Sichuan side, with Zhou Jinli appointed as the head coach to replace Yin Kui in illness, took a tough victory over Jiangsu. Tyler Hansbrough got a big double-double of 49 points and 22 rebounds in his third appearances for the home team.
The first half was whisker-close as both sides tied 46-all with several lead changes. Hansbrough contributed 19 points and nine rebounds in the third quarter for Sichuan to lead 77-73.
In the last minute of the game, Hansbrough made all six free throws while Huang Rongqi missed the buzz-beating 3-pointer to force a overtime.
The Dragons has four players scored double-digits including 36 points Jonathan Gibson, 23 points and nine rebounds from Wu Guanxi. The 34-year-old veteran Yi Li contributed 12 points and 3-pointers.