Marbury's 27 not enough as Beijing's streak snapped

Defending champion Beijing suffered a 93-87 loss to last season runner-up Liaoning in the 12th round of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league on Wednesday.

Liaoning extended its winning streak to three games while ending Beijing's run to three. The defeat was also Beijing's first in the latest five home matches.

Former NBA star Stephon Marbury scored a game-high 27 points while Fang Shuo added 19 points, and Randolph Morris had 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Lester Hudson got 23 points for Liaoning, Guo Ailun and He Tianju took 15 points each.

After nailing three three-pointers, Liaoning grabbed a 11-3 lead at the opening stage, but Beijing went on a 8-0 run to seize the lead. As Marbury and Fang Shuo combined for 21 points, Beijing extended the edge to eight points as the first quarter ended.

The two sides traded lead several times in the following two quarters, and Beijing kept a 72-71 lead before the last quarter.

Liaoning launched a 8-1 run in the fourth quarter to regain the lead and forced the rival to call a timeout. Beijing fought back to cut the difference to three points with 17 seconds left, but they could not go any further and had to accept the defeat.

Guangdong routed Shanghai 105-86 to extend its winning streak to six games.

Ike Diogu scored a game-high 30 points. Former NBA player Yi Jianlian pocketed 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Will Bynum contributed 14 points to Guangdong. Liu Xiaoyu got a team-high 20, Bernard James and A.J. Price collected 19 apiece.

In other games, Jilin lost to Foshan 109-104, Guangsha edged Sichuan 105-103, Bayi downed Tongxi 102-92, Shandong tamed Shenzhen 102-95, Shanxi defeated Zhejiang 101-94, Jiangsu beat Tianjin 113-97, and Qingdao won over Aolong 123-120 in overtime.

In an earlier 12th round game on Tuesday, Fujian handed a 129-119 defeat to league leader Xinjiang, who had been unbeaten in 11 games. Endi