QINGDAO, China, June 22 (Xinhua) -- With Hu Jinqiu scoring a career-high 38 points, the Zhengjiang Lions rallied from a double-digit deficit in the last quarter to win their first back-to-back victory over the Shanghai Sharks 95-90 in the just-resumed 2019-2020 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) season.

Zhejiang opened the restarted season with a 112-95 victory over the Nanjing Monkey Kings on Saturday, ranking third on the table before taking on Shanghai, who lost to the Zhejiang Golden Bulls 97-115 on Sunday.

It seemed as if Shanghai had not fully recovered from their loss a day ago, trailing 26-19 in the game against Zhejiang when the first quarter ended. The second quarter, however, saw a reversed situation between the two teams, with Li Gen stirring in the paint and Luo Hanchen firing from downtown. With Luo's assist delivered through the defender's legs in a fast break, Shanghai regained the lead 31-30 in the fourth minute of the second quarter and led 51-43 before the interval.

Trailing at 57-68 as the third quarter ended, Zhejiang's ice-cold shooters began to microwave themselves in the fourth. Liu Zheng's three-pointer narrowed the gap within 10 points again right after the final quarter kicked off.

Zhejiang's full-court press forced Shanghai into turnovers, and Hu Jinqiu's three-point play tied up the score at 75-75 with less than six minutes on the clock. It was Hu again who drew a foul from Shanghai after knotting two points in the dying minutes. Zhejiang's advantage was enlarged to 90-83 after Hu made the free throw.

Ju Mingxin from Shanghai shot a three-pointer with less than 20 seconds left, cutting the deficit to 90-94, but his teammates missed two consecutive shots from downtown, shy of pulling off another comeback.

"It was a tough game. We came across a lot of challenges," Hu said. "Luckily we solved all the problems and lived through the game."

Hu Jinqiu scored 38 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. McCallum led Shanghai in points with 29.

"Hu played for more than 44 minutes as captain today and led the team out of difficulties," said Li Chunjiang, head coach of Zhejiang.

"The championship-style format poses new challenges for us. We will try our best to distribute key players' energy on court wisely," said Li.

The Zhejiang Lions will take on the Zhejiang Golden Bulls on Tuesday, while Shanghai will play against the Liaoning Flying Leopards after a day's rest.

"Many people are talking about the Zhejiang Derby. For us, it's just an ordinary game. We will adjust ourselves and be physically and mentally ready for the game," said Li. Enditem

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