Two oversea players, Juan Mendez and Myron Allen, scored 70 points in total to help Xinjiang Guanghui stop the unbeaten Dongguan Marco Polo 98-92 on Friday in the CBA league.
Canadian Mendez had 34 points and 16 rebounds while Allen added eight assists and seven rebounds for the home team to lead as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter.
Michael Harris, who had 34 points and 16 rebounds, led Dongguanto close it up to 84-81 midway in the decisive quarter before Xinjiang picked up attacking power again to pull away.
Jiangsu Dragons grabbed the chance of Dongguan's loss to vault to the top place on the standings after beating Fujian SBS 109-101,thanks to Donnell Harvey's 35 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists.
Jiangsu (5-1) led the league when four teams had identical record to occupy the 1-4 placings, with Guangdong Dongguan Bank, Xinjiang and Dongguan being followed in sequence.
Defending champions Guangdong had an easy win over Zhejiang Guangsha 120-106.
Samuel Hoskin led four Zhejiang Cyclones' players to score over20 points by 26 points and 12 rebounds to edge off Bayi Fubang 105-102.
Zhejiang beat Bayi 32-25 in the fourth quarter when Kirk Snyder having 23 points, Luo Zhi 21, and Ding Jinhui 20.
Teams have to cut off the playing time of their foreign players when they face the military Bayi team, which is the only team that is not allowed to import overseas.
The bottom two teams, Yunnan Honghe and Shanghai Sharks, vied when the home team Honghe bettered off by 107-97.
In Friday's other games, Beijing Ducks beat Changchun Dacheng 100-95, Shandong Gold beat Shannxi Yalv 109-91, Shanxi Zhongyu beat Qingdao DoubleStars 82-80 while Liaoning Hunters beat Tianjin Ronggang 99-97.
(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2008)
