Liaoning rally past Qingdao 106-95 in CBA semifinal opener

Lester Hudson scored 39 points to help Liaoning overcome a 20-point deficit to defeat Qingdao 106-95 in the first game of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) semifinal on Tuesday.

Qingdao established a quick 24-11 lead in the first eight minutes as former NBA player Justin Dentmon scored 15 points before the visitors launched a chase to narrow the gap to six points in the first quarter.

Thanks to the strong attacks from three foreign players, Qingdao expanded their lead to 20 points in the second quarter, but Liaoning refused to give in and started their stunning comeback just as what they did throughout the season.

Helped with boards grip, Liaoning's guards Hudson and Guo Ailun combined to launch a scoring spurt, cutting the deficit to six points in the third quarter and managed to see their first lead of the game in the middle of the fourth quarter and never let it slide away.

Liaoning led the game with five points with 40 seconds remaining and won the game 106-95.

Li Qiuping, coach of Qingdao, blamed their defeat on foreign players' poor physical conditions.

"They didn't prepare well for the semifinals as we can see that Qingdao lost a dozen rebounds in the second half."

"Hamed Hadadi haven't played basketball for more than ten days and Mike Harris is in bad conditions too."

Guo Shiqiang, Liaoning's coach, contributed their triumph to strong defense in the second half.

"We encountered many difficulties in the first half, so I asked players to focus on defense and they did very well," said Guo Shiqiang. "I am very proud of them."

Qingdao's guard Justin Dentmon had a game-high 40 points. Zhang Chiyu and center Hadadi had 21 points and 14 points respectively for Qingdao.

Guo Ailun and center Han Dejun combined 33 points for Liaoning.