体坛英语新闻：Guangsha holds off Shanxi, Shandong snaps two-game skid

BEIJING, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Guangsha resisted late comeback from Shanxi to win at 131-125, moving up to provisional fourth place, and Shandong snapped their sloppy performace in last two loss with a 122-100 victory over Guangzhou in the 29th round of the 2016-2017 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) action on Wednesday.

Guangsha's win is attributed to their solid performance on free throw line, where they made 38 of 40. Courtney Fortson made all 17 free throw attempts, finishing with a game-high 49 points and 14 assists. Teammate Eli Holman added 20 points and nine rebounds.

Guangsha built a good start with a 13-2 run after the tip-off, and led at 34-27 as the first quarter ran out. Guangsha had a six-point advantage into the final 12 minutes, before the hosts cut the deficit little by little with consecutive three pointers. Shanxi can expect to win as they just trailed by four points with 45 seconds remaining, while seeing no chance at last in front of Guangsha's stable performance on free throw line, wasting Jamaal Franklin's shining triple-double of 43 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists.

Shandong met some trouble since the CBA All-star Weekend and suffered two loss in a row against Tongxi and Jiangsu, while they encountered little challenge in front of the 18th-ranked Guangzhou. Seven players had double-figure points for Shandong, led by Justin Dentmon's 30. Zheng Zhun had a team-high 20 points for Guanghzou.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Guangdong crushed Bayi 107-70, Shenzhen eased past Qingdao 112-97, and Jiangsu beat Tianjin 108-88.

The other five matches of the 29th round will be held on Friday.