The team on top of the league table Shaanxi Xinda Wolves is now on a brink of elimination after suffering a 108-106 defeat to Guizhou Senhang in the opening game of the Chinese National Basketball League (NBL) quarterfinal round on Sunday.

Guizhou had defeated the Wolves in the opening game of the series with a 102-89 win last week Wednesday. However, Shaanxi bounced back and claimed Game 2 with a 124-113 victory last Friday to even the series to one-game apiece.

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With the victory, Guizhou now leads the playoff series 2-1 and are a game away from advancing into the semifinal round. The winning team is seeded eighth after finishing the regular season with a 15-11 win-loss record, while Shaanxi is the No.1 seeded club after capping the regular season with an outstanding 24 victories in 26 matches played.

According to Asia-Basket, former Iona Gaels hotshot Steven Burtt led the winning team with an outstanding game performance of game-high 40 points along with three boards and an assist.The 32-year-old native of New York City continued to showcase his game dominance over the Wolves. In Game 1, he scored 39 points and poured in an amazing 49 huge points in Game 2.

Former NBA D-League player Brandon Costner finished the match with a double-double game performance of 26 points and 18 rebounds while local players Minghao Li and Pengfei Li chipped in with 13 points and 8 points respectively for the winners.

According to NowGoal, the Wolves controlled the first 24 minutes of the game, but Guizhou staged a 38-29 run in the third period to take the lead 85-82 entering the final quarter of the ballgame.

In the final twelve minutes of the match, the game was still close. However, the Wolves failed to score more as they made just 24-point points while Guizhou managed to score 23 points to take the victory.

TagsNBA D-League, chinese nbl, steven burtt, brandon costner, Tyler Wilkerson, james mays