Marbury leads Beijing Ducks to crush Shanxi Zhongyu 137-108

Beijing Ducks' Stephon Marbury (L)?shoots the ball during the game against Shanxi Zhongyu of the Chinese Basketball Association League (CBA) match on Wednesday.??[Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - Stephon Marbury and Beijing Ducks obviously didn't want another overtime defeat to Shanxi Zhongyu, so they made it quite simple with a 137-108 crushing over the latter in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) League on Wednesday.

Five players of Beijing scored double-figure points. Marbury, who played for Shanxi during 09-10 season, contributed a game-high 36 points and six assists. Randolph Morris finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Zhu Yanxi added 21 points.

In the first meet this season, Shanxi's Yang Jingmin made a critical 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left in regular time to pull the game into overtime and Shanxi finally got the victory.

However, that seemed to never happen again even after the first half when Beijing had a 71-48 lead thanks to a 11-0 run at the start of the second quarter.

With 8:15 remaining in the final 12 minutes, Beijing led by 119-87, thus coach Min Lulei decided to rest Marbury.

"As I said before, I hope to motivate all players. Marbury is an exception because he can adjust himself as the game goes on," Min showed enough confidence in the former NBA star.

On Tuesday, Tracy Mcgrady pocketed 38 points and 14 rebounds, while Qingdao Doublestars' five-game winning streak was halted by Shandong Gold 106-99. Shandong welcomed their ninth straight win, the best record in club's franchise history.

"I think we play well tonight. Sometimes your performance cannot be only judged by results. We have spared no efforts in this game," said Zhang Shizhang, Qingdao's coach.

Qingdao began the game with an 8-2 run before Shandong's Pooh Jeter stepped in and scored five points in a row. Shandong trailed by one point after the first quarter.

Two teams traded advantage in the following three quarters. Qingdao once built a 72-58 lead in midway through the third quarter, only to see their advantage bitten by the opponents later. With 27.1 seconds left, Jeter made a critical 3-pointer to secure the victory for Shandong. He tied the game-high 38 points with T-mac.

Guangdong Hongyuan held off Foshan Long Lions 127-114 to taste their 11th straight victory, becoming the first team to have secured a playoffs spot.

Yi Jianlian dominated the paint field with 42 points and 13 rebounds. He surpassed Nigerian center Olumide Oyedeji, who played for five teams in CBA career, to become the 36th top scorer in CBA history.

In other matches, Jilin Northeast Tigers edged Jiangsu Dragons 114-113, Liaoning Hengye beat Zhejiang Guangsha 95-90, Zhejiang Chouzhou downed Shanghai Sharks 126-112, Bayi Fuabng lost to Dongguan Marco Polo 118-107 and Tianjin Ronggang was edged by Xinjiang Guanghui 96-92.