The Zhejiang Golden Bulls beat the Qingdao Eagles 98-86 in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, on Saturday, avoiding their third consecutive loss.
Qingdao began the competition with a 10-2 run, but Zhejiang immediately responded with a 10-0 rally that ended with a three-point play by Yu Jiahao to take the lead. Both sides struggled to make shots since then before the first quarter was tied 20-20.
Qingdao counted on the sharp offensive performance of Quinndary Weatherspoon to provide firepower in the second quarter as he kept making shots both outside the 3-point line and next to the rim. Paris Bass and Damian Jones safeguarded Zhejiang’s lead at three, 45-42, before the first half ended.
Bass had a breakout third quarter which became the turning point of the game. He got 13 points, four rebounds, two assists and four steals in this quarter alone, enabling Zhejiang to outscore the opponents 33-20. They sat on a 16-point lead, 78-62, after three quarters.
Qingdao managed to cut their deficit to single digits after Weatherspoon stood up to score early in the fourth quarter, but Cheng Shuaipeng, Yu and Lu Wenbo shut their the home team’s comeback efforts by making a series of jumpers and put their lead back to 15 points, 96-81, for the game to lose its suspense.
As Zhejiang’s biggest contributor to the victory, Bass dropped a triple-double of 34 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in addition to seven steals and two blocks. Weatherspoon got team-high 32 points for Qingdao. His teammate Yang Hansen had a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds plus five assists and four blocks.