Beijing Ducks edge Fujian Sturgeons in CBA

ZHUJI, China - The Beijing Ducks got an 80-71 win over the Fujian Sturgeons in the sixth round of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league here on Thursday.

Beijing's Zhai Xiaochuan grabbed a team-high 15 points plus 12 rebounds and two assists while Fujian's Huang Yichao scored 16 points and had three rebounds.

Fujian established a 47-33 lead by the end of the first half. Beijing tried hard to catch up with Fujian but ended up just narrowing the gap a little bit and trailed 67-56 to enter the final period.

However, Beijing's unyielding fight saw it turn the tide as Zhai Xiaochuan's jump shot with Justin Hamilton's assist tied it 67-67. Beijing didn't give their opponents chance to retake the lead and sealed the victory 80-71 over Fujian.

Beijing head coach Simone Pianigiani said that there were ups and downs as his team made nine mistakes in the first quarter but only four in the rest of the game.

"We got more and more assists as the game went on and this was what we wanted to see. We didn't panic and got the victory," said Pianigiani.

Fujian head coach Nenad Vucinic was upset with the result, saying "we were now in a very difficult situation, we played well in the first three quarters but could not hold on. We had a lot of work to do and we would bounce back."