The Shenzhen Aviators enjoyed their third win in a row after a narrow 98-97 victory over the Qingdao Eagles, while the Ningbo Rockets suffered their ninth straight defeat after losing to the Beijing Royal Fighters 95-79 in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) on Friday.

Qingdao's young center Gao Shiao, who made a triple-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 10 blocks in the previous game, was limited to two points and seven rebounds by national team player Shen Zijie. Shenzhen dominated in the paint, taking an early 30-23 lead after the first quarter.

However, Qingdao soon cut the deficit to one point at half-time and managed to lead 78-75 in the third quarter thanks to their performance behind the arc. Both teams exchanged the lead in the last quarter before Shenzhen won by one point thanked to Shen's crucial dunk.

Shen had a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, while his teammate Askia Booker scored a game-high 37 points. Zhao Tailong led Qingdao with 22 points. Despite scoring 18 three-pointers in the game, it was still not enough for Qingdao to avoid its second straight loss.

Ningbo remained winless in its debut CBA season after eight rounds, but still tied with the Royal Fighters 25-25 in the first quarter due to the latter's turnovers. From the second quarter onwards, Beijing started to build the lead and eventually sealed a comfortable victory.

"It was a challenging game. Those guys played hard, they put everything on the court," said Beijing head coach Stephon Marbury.

"We had 20 turnovers. This is unacceptable against a team that is bottom of the league right now," he added.

In other games, the Xinjiang Flying Tigers beat the Nanjing Monkey Kings 92-86, the Shanghai Sharks smashed the Tianjin Pioneers 110-75, and the Guangzhou Loong Lions lost to the Zhejiang Lions 108-103. 

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