The Liaoning Flying Leopards maintained their winning record against the Guangdong Southern Tigers this season with a 104-97 road victory, while the Beijing Ducks outgunned the Shanxi Loongs 106-87 at home to end their six-game slide in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) on Sunday.

Liaoning had triumphed on both occasions against Guangdong in the current campaign prior to Sunday's action, while their last regular-season duel will take place on Guangdong's home court on March 15.

Liaoning and Guangdong have combined to claim the past six CBA championships, with three going to each team. The clash of titans lived up to the hype as it was a nip-and-tuck battle throughout, with Liaoning managing to emerge victorious for a fifth win in a row.

Liaoning playmaker Zhao Jiwei was clinical in crucial moments, deftly combining long-range shots and layups. Zhao finished with 25 points and 11 assists. Rookie Li Huyi emerged as the biggest surprise, as the 21-year-old guard made five of seven 3-point attempts for a season-high 15 points.

"My players did a terrific job today. With tough circumstances, some young players got to step up and they did," said Liaoning coach Hugo Lopez. "Winning here on a tough court like Guangdong, we never gave up and we did a very good job defensively in the last quarter."

Guangdong center Zhou Qi returned to the starting lineup after injury. Both sides initiated their attacks from distance, as Zhao buried a 3-pointer and Tremont Waters countered soon afterwards. Liaoning drew first blood midway through the first quarter with Zhao expertly stitching their offense, while consecutive 3-pointers from Zhou and Du Runwang pulled level at 22-22 and the opening period ended 28-28.

Guangdong was plagued by foul trouble in the second quarter, getting their fifth team foul with only four minutes played, and Liaoning felt more comfortable attacking the rim. The visitors went 50-43 up with 4:18 remaining after Fu Hao made a shot from beyond the arc, while Guangdong scored eight unanswered points later to keep themselves in contention. Li buried a 3-pointer as Liaoning built a 56-54 lead at halftime.

Liaoning led by as many as 11 points four minutes going into the third quarter through Zhang Zhenlin's 3-pointer. The 2.08m forward added the highlight moment of the game from there, blocking an opponents' 3-point attempt before feeding for Yu Zechen's two-handed dunk over Hu Mingxuan.

However, Guangdong used a 10-0 spurt to turn the tide, while Li's attempt from 3-point land at the buzzer cut the deficit to one point heading into the final frame.

Li's fourth 3-pointer put Liaoning in front 91-84, but Guangdong came to life again to trim the deficit within two points with less than three minutes to go. Li made his biggest shot of the night, an off-balance 3-pointer, with 1:38 remaining to consolidate Liaoning's leading position.

Zhang put on a balanced performance with 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Fu added 18 points, and Eric Moreland had a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Waters led Guangdong with 25 points, while going only 7 of 24. Hu and Zhou scored 21 and 15 points respectively.

"Overall my players played hard, but they seemed a bit tense and made some mistakes defensively," admitted Guangdong coach Du Feng.

Beijing used two big quarters at both ends of the game to shake off their recent slump. The home team raced into a 30-19 lead as the first quarter expired, and outscored Shanxi 29-10 in the final 12 minutes to taste a much-needed win.

Veteran Zhu Yanxi made five 3-pointers for 17 points to lead Beijing, who had seven players score in double figures. Zhang Ning and Yuan Shuai contributed 21 and 20 points respectively for Shanxi.

Also on Sunday, the Fujian Sturgeons routed the Nanjing Monkey Kings 120-86, the Qingdao Eagles edged the Jilin Northeast Tigers 103-101, and the Zhejiang Lions downed the Shenzhen Aviators 109-95. 

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