Jiangsu are set to take on defending champions Guangdong in the Chinese Basketball Association premier league semifinals after beating Shandong 121-100 on Friday.

 

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The result allowed it to advance to the semifinals with an aggregate score of 3-1.

 

The team owes the victory to Carlos Dixon, who was the highest scorer of the match with 40 points plus six rebounds. Herve Lamizana sunk 37 points for the struggling Shandong team, which was lagging 2-1 before the match in the best-of-five knockout round.

 

Carlos showed the good form he has maintained through the past three matches, scoring six points minutes into the game. Shandong caught up and the two sides were neck and neck until Meng Da shot a three pointer, allowing Jiangsu to finish the opening quarter 33-30.

 

Carlos continued to show-off his talents in the second quarter, taking his team to a 13 point lead. They took control of the game before the end of the first half with a score of 66-48.

 

Both sides dropped their defenses in the third quarter when the game unexpectedly entered the "garbage time" in advance.

 

Jiangsu then showed their full talent for offense and Garnett Thompson shot the last goal before his team claimed sweet victory.

 

In other matches, Bayi overcame Zhejiang 102-80, making it the third team to enter the semi-finals. It has an aggregate score of 3-1.

 

Wang Zhizhi contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds to the win.

 

The team that will play against Bayi in the next round is still unclear. A play-off will be necessary to determine the matter after Liaoning held off Fujian 96-88 and tied the score two all.

 

The tie-breaker is set for Sunday.

 

(CRI March 3, 2007)