Guangdong, Zhejiang dominate U19 men's basketball at China's National Games

XI'AN, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Guangdong and Zhejiang smashed their respective opponents here on Saturday, showing their ambition of winning gold in the U19 men's basketball event at the 14th Chinese National Games.

Shaanxi had a 4-0 point dash at the beginning, before seeing Guangdong respond with a 9-0 spurt. Guangdong sped up their pace, and the tournament hosts trailed 30-17 in the first quarter.

Guangdong, boasting high-caliber post players, created space for their guards. Lu Pengyu helped the title favorites enlarge their advantage to 20 points midway through the second quarter. Shaanxi trailed by 26 points in the first half.

In the third quarter, Guangdong continued to dominate the game and built a 40-point advantage with 3:30 remaining on the clock going into the final quarter, putting the game beyond Shaanxi's reach.

"We were a little nervous in our first match here, but our players did a good job in implementing the tactics," Guangdong's head coach Zheng Yonggang told Xinhua. "We will try our best to stand on top of the podium."

In the other Group A match on Saturday, Jiangsu beat Fujian 101-79.

Rising star Yu Jiahao pocketed 24 points and 10 rebounds, helping Zhejiang defeat Henan 83-54 in his ground-breaking match at the National Games.

Yu, son of former Zhejiang center Yu Leping, helped Zhejiang build a double-digit advantage in the second quarter. Before the half-time break, Zhejiang led by 13 points.

Henan narrowed the gap to 11 points at the beginning of the third quarter, but never seemed to be a serious threat to overtake Zhejiang.

"This is the biggest event in these four years. We have had only a few matches to play amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We can enrich our experience through today's game," Yu said.

Also on Saturday, Shandong edged Liaoning 98-92.