Former NBA player and Philippine national team mainstay Andray Blatche powered erstwhile solo league leaders Xinjiang Flying Tigers to a lopsided 97-81 victory over the Shenzhen Leopards in a Chinese Basketball Association round 33 game at the Dalang Arena in Dongguan, Guangdong, China on Sunday.

Like Us on Facebook

The win is a huge one for Xinjiang as it snapped the Flying Tigers' two-game losing skid and also helped the team settle for a tie in the league's top spot with the Liaoning Flying Leopards with identical 59 points and 26-7 win-loss records.

Blatche, 29, led five Xinjiang players in double-digit scoring outputs with 21 points. He also had 16 rebounds to control the board for the Flying Tigers during the defensive-minded game. Small forward Li Gen supported him with 19 points, via Xinhuanet.

The Leopards were spearheaded by another former NBA player, point guard Bobby Brown with 25 markers.

Shenzhen actually started strong in the match, going on a balanced 21-12 attack in the game's first ten minutes of play before Xinjiang managed to finish the opening quarter with a 6-0 run to trim the gap to three points, 21-18, as per Sofa Score.

The second quarter is another nip-and-tuck battle as both teams went on separate rallies within the period.

The Leopards opened the second canto with an 11-5 run to increase the lead to nine points with eight minutes remaining in the quarter, 32-23.

Xinjiang answered with a 20-8 run to move up by three, 43-40, two minutes before the halftime break. Shenzhen, however, pushed again with a 5-2 rally to force the game into a deadlock during the interval, 45-all.

It was all Flying Tigers in the second half, though, as Blatche, an American-born and naturalized Filipino citizen, began to assert himself inside the paint and off the boards for head coach Li Qiuping's side.

A 24-15 third quarter and 28-21 fourth period sealed it for Xinjiang to complete their comeback win after two consecutive losses in China's top professional basketball league.

TagsChina basketball, chinese basketball association, andray blatche, Xinjiang Flying tigers, Shenzhen Leopards