Cameron Oliver (center) of Zhejiang Lions fights for a rebound during the 10th round match between Zhejiang Lions and Zhejiang Golden Bulls at 2023-2024 season of the Chinese Basketball Association league in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province, Nov 14, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

JINAN - The Zhejiang Lions claimed a thrilling 105-91 victory over the Guangdong Southern Tigers in the 2023-24 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league on Friday.

Before the match, both teams were tied on 24 wins and 10 losses, and were among the top four in the league.

Hu Jinqiu led the Lions with 35 points, while Zhou Qi scored 24 for Guangdong

After the tip-off, Guangdong made frequent mistakes to let Zhejiang lead 26-14, but gradually closed the gap to win the quarter 33-29.

Zhejiang was hot from the long-range arch and led 55-47 when its star guard Sun Minghui hit a 3-pointer with two minutes left in the first half. They kept the momentum and enlarged the margin to 18 points in the third quarter, and never looked back thereafter.

Hu Jinqiu led the Lions with 35 points, while Zhou Qi scored 24 for Guangdong.

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Also on Friday, the Zhejiang Golden Bulls won a seesaw battle with the Tianjin Pioneers 105-99, the Beijing Royal Fighters crushed the Ningbo Rockets 114-81, the Shenzhen Aviators nosed out the Jilin Northeast Tigers 118-116, and the Nanjing Monkey Kings downed the Sichuan Blue Whales 114-100.