Nicholas Rakocevic (left) of Zhejiang Golden Bulls competes against Zhejiang Lions at the 2020-2021 season of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league in Zhuji, east China's Zhejiang province, Dec 12, 2020. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

ZHUJI, China - The highly-expected Zhejiang Derby ended early as the Golden Bulls led by over 20 points for most of the second half, moving past the Lions 125-100 in the 2020-21 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) regular season here on Saturday.

The Golden Bulls, who currently rank second on table, showed more ambition to win as they won all four quarters 32-19, 31-27, 34-29 and 28-25. They shocked their opponents with fierce defense early in the game and built a double-digit advantage after a 10-2 run within the last three minutes of the first quarter.

The Lions seemed to have given up on the game as their head coach Li Chunjiang put his starting lineup on the bench for most of the second half

The Lions seemed to have given up on the game as their head coach Li Chunjiang put his starting lineup on the bench for most of the second half.

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Sylven Landesberg put up a game-high 36 points for the Golden Bulls with Wu Qian adding 26. Feng Xin led the Lions in points with 21.

"I'm grateful to my players as they played their best under pressure in both offense and defense. They improved a lot in rebounds and defense, which were the keys to our victory tonight," said Liu Weiwei, head coach of the Golden Bulls.

All five players on the starting lineup scored in the double digits for the Shenzhen Aviators, overcoming Trae Golden's game-high 54 points to outlast Fujian Sturgeons in a close 140-134.

"We played very hard to win the game, and executed a double-team defense over Golden in the second half," Shenzhen coach Qiu Biao said, adding that the team defense still needs to be improved as they could hardly confine Golden before the last quarter.

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Having 28 points and game-high 16 rebounds, Shen Zijie finished with a double-double, a feat that Wang Zhelin and Golden also achieved with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 54 points, 19 assists respectively.

In other action, defending champions the Guangdong Southern Tigers trounced the Shanghai Sharks 136-92, winning for the 13th time in their last 15 games. Meanwhile, the struggling Beijing Ducks were still suffering from their ups and downs as they lost to the Shanxi Loongs in a 110-95 defeat.

On Sunday, the Tianjin Pioneers are set to play against the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, the Jiangsu Dragons will take on the Shandong Heroes, the Qingdao Eagles will face the Jilin Northeast Tigers, and the Beijing Royal Fighters set up a Guangzhou Loong Lions clash.