Rockets Snap Sharks' Winning Streak

Rockets Snap Sharks' Winning Streak

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Defending champions Bayi Rockets snapped Shanghai Sharks' 11-game winning streak by trouncing the visitors 117-91 in the 12th round of the Chinese Basketball League in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China on the New Year's Eve.

Li Nan, the 26-year-old Chinese guard who had a good shooting performance at Sydney Olympics in September, scored 28 points to lead the Rockets to their sixth straight victory and 40th in Ningbo since December 27, 1998.

Rockets' center Wang Zhizhi, last season's MVP in the Chinese league, won the second encounter against Shanghai giant Yao Ming with 26 points, 17 rebounds, three block shots and four assists.

Yao Ming, the 2.25 meters center who averaged 26.5 points this season, had just 18 points under Wang's tight defense but pulled down a game high 22 rebounds in the attendance of his parents.

The Rockets, roared on by a full-capacity home crowd, jumped to a 26-23 lead after the first period but American Damon Stringer, who led the Sharks with 28 points, shot a three-pointer at the buzzer of the half time to cut the deficit to four at 55-51.

Stringer, the Sharks' only player to score more than 20 points, made it 65-all with the second of his five three-pointers the night before the Rockets surged ahead with a 18-0 run to lead 83-65 with 4:02 remaining in the third period.

The Sharks, who started their golden run by beating the Rockets 101-96 in the opening round match at home, failed to rewrite the story when they saw the margin enlarged in the final quarter.

"The match is very important but we tried to take it as usual and we succeeded," said Wang Fei, Bayi's head coach, after the game hailed as "Battle of the Century". "Wang and Yao will be very influential to China's basketball in the future and they will do better in 2001."

In Sunday's other actions, Guangdong Hongyuan extended their winning streak to six by beating Zhejiang Cyclone 108-95, Beijing Ducks toppled Liaoning Hunters 102-71 at home, Jinan Army suffered their sixth consecutive loss when whey crashed to Jiangsu Dragons 101-92, Jilin Northeast Tigers sent Vanguard Aoshen the fourth successive defeat 122-111 while Shenyang has yet to find a victory 12 rounds into the competitions after their 119-94 away tragedy against Shandong Flaming Bulls.