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Sharks grab season's first away victory
December 19, 2011, Monday
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THE Shanghai Sharks won their first away game of the season in a hard-fought and intensely physical match against the Bayi Rockets in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, last night.
The match ended 94-85 and the Sharks will be pleased with their performance against a Bayi side which had only been beaten once at the Youngor Arena all season.
Despite the Rockets having the advantage of a loud, passionate home crowd, it was the Sharks who started the brightest. A masterclass of skillful, brave drives to the basket and tough three-pointers from Ryan Forehan-Kelly was enough to open up a 28-21 first-quarter lead as the visitors looked assured and composed despite their mounting injury list and poor form on the road.
The second quarter was much the same story. Bayi, noticeably rattled by the intensity of its rival, continually made errors and committed turnovers, all of which were gleefully seized upon by an exuberant Sharks team. A handful of delicious shots from range by Feng Tian, underlined Shanghai's confidence as the visitors went in at the break with an impressive 50-36 margin.
After the interval, however, the Rockets began to fight back.
Led by Han Shuo and Wang Zhizhi, the Rockets' rough, physical approach soon began to ruffle the feathers of a youthful Sharks team, who completely lost their discipline and let the Rockets make easy points from the free-throw line.
Within 12 minutes of the restart, the Sharks had thrown their advantage away and found themselves down 57-61, having allowed Bayi to outscore them by 26 points to 11 in the third quarter.
It would fall to Shanghai's more experienced players to lead the fightback and Mike Harris and Forehan-Kelly soon began to reassert the Sharks' superiority in the game. Having helped their team pull level, the Americans then made a number of clutch shots to pull ahead of the home team.
Home crowd
The Rockets, spurred on by the roars of their increasingly desperate home fans, poured forward but couldn't seal up all the holes they left behind in their back court, allowing Harris, in particular, to repeatedly punish them on the fast break.
When the final buzzer arrived, the Sharks could finally celebrate their first away win of the season, an achievement made even more impressive by the absence of starters Liu Wei and Tseng Wen-ting.
Forehan-Kelly scored 31 points whilst Harris had an equally crucial haul of 24. The performances of young guards Feng and Meng Lingyuan will also have impressed coach Daniel Panaggio, whose Sharks team made a powerful statement to the rest of the league with a gritty, resilient performance.
In other CBA scores, the Beijing Ducks stayed undefeated, with Randolph Morris and Stephon Marbury scoring 30 and 28 points, respectively, as the league leaders improved to 12-0 after dispatching the Qingdao Eagles 105-97. Elsewhere, JR Smith scored 38 points, including three thunderous dunks, as the Zhejiang Bulls beat the Foshan Dralions, 103-96.
The match ended 94-85 and the Sharks will be pleased with their performance against a Bayi side which had only been beaten once at the Youngor Arena all season.
Despite the Rockets having the advantage of a loud, passionate home crowd, it was the Sharks who started the brightest. A masterclass of skillful, brave drives to the basket and tough three-pointers from Ryan Forehan-Kelly was enough to open up a 28-21 first-quarter lead as the visitors looked assured and composed despite their mounting injury list and poor form on the road.
The second quarter was much the same story. Bayi, noticeably rattled by the intensity of its rival, continually made errors and committed turnovers, all of which were gleefully seized upon by an exuberant Sharks team. A handful of delicious shots from range by Feng Tian, underlined Shanghai's confidence as the visitors went in at the break with an impressive 50-36 margin.
After the interval, however, the Rockets began to fight back.
Led by Han Shuo and Wang Zhizhi, the Rockets' rough, physical approach soon began to ruffle the feathers of a youthful Sharks team, who completely lost their discipline and let the Rockets make easy points from the free-throw line.
Within 12 minutes of the restart, the Sharks had thrown their advantage away and found themselves down 57-61, having allowed Bayi to outscore them by 26 points to 11 in the third quarter.
It would fall to Shanghai's more experienced players to lead the fightback and Mike Harris and Forehan-Kelly soon began to reassert the Sharks' superiority in the game. Having helped their team pull level, the Americans then made a number of clutch shots to pull ahead of the home team.
Home crowd
The Rockets, spurred on by the roars of their increasingly desperate home fans, poured forward but couldn't seal up all the holes they left behind in their back court, allowing Harris, in particular, to repeatedly punish them on the fast break.
When the final buzzer arrived, the Sharks could finally celebrate their first away win of the season, an achievement made even more impressive by the absence of starters Liu Wei and Tseng Wen-ting.
Forehan-Kelly scored 31 points whilst Harris had an equally crucial haul of 24. The performances of young guards Feng and Meng Lingyuan will also have impressed coach Daniel Panaggio, whose Sharks team made a powerful statement to the rest of the league with a gritty, resilient performance.
In other CBA scores, the Beijing Ducks stayed undefeated, with Randolph Morris and Stephon Marbury scoring 30 and 28 points, respectively, as the league leaders improved to 12-0 after dispatching the Qingdao Eagles 105-97. Elsewhere, JR Smith scored 38 points, including three thunderous dunks, as the Zhejiang Bulls beat the Foshan Dralions, 103-96.
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