Zhu Fangyu's impressive 30-point haul was not enough to prevent Guangdong from slumping to a narrow defeat at the hands of Jiangsu in the third match of the CBA finals.

Guangdong, the defending champions, had levelled up the best-of-five series at 1-1 with a victory in Game Two but they fell 2-1 behind after going down 105-101 in the latest encounter.

Jiangsu were indebted to an excellent first quarter performance in which they established a 29-17 lead.

Guangdong chipped away at their lead in the remaining three quarters but couldn't overhaul their opponents, eventually falling four points short.?

Tang Zhengdong was the star man for Jiangsu with 27 points and 13 rebounds while Hu Weidong also contributed 27 points for the victors.

( FIBA?April 19, 2005)