JINAN, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Former NBA star Ty Lawson nailed 16 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter as Shandong stunned Guangsha 113-103 to lead 3-2 in Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) semifinals Friday night.
Coming off a 2-2 draw Wednesday night, Shandong tried to keep homecourt advantage. Donatas Motiejunas scored 15 points in first quarter to give Shandong the lead. Sun Minghui of Guangsha shot a 3-pointer to build a 26-25 lead with 1 minute left. Wu Ke of Shandong made a free throw to a 26-26 tie.
The second quarter was tight. Shandong took the lead for good on Ding Yanyuhang's two free throws with two and a half minutes left in the first half.
In the second half, Shandong's long-range shooters dealt a blow to Guangsha with 10 3-pointers, and Shandong never left any chance for the opponents.
Shandong took a 3-2 lead after this win, with Lawson's game-high 31 points. Guangsha will host Shandong in the next two semifinal games.
"It was a great game, a great win. This is something. Everybody enjoyed," said Shandong coach Aleksandar Kesar. "This series does not give us chance to recover, but it's the same for the other team."
Donatas Motiejunas of Shandong grabbed two consecutive double-doubles with 26 points and 13 rebounds for Game 5.
"I love the way the whole team played. Really hard win but win," said Motiejunas, "It is a small step in big picture. We fought as a team, and hopefully it will lead to the victory in next match."
Ty Lawson snapped 31 points with 16 out of the last quarter. Wu Ke of Shandong said Lawson was a clutch player and he deserved a MVP.
"It was a clutch match. Hope we can play like this to win one more," said Lawson, adding that he expected to stay in CBA with Shandong next season.
Guangsha fell behind in assists (11-21) and turnovers (11-18). It is coach Li Chunjiang's first time to reach semifinals since he took the helm in Guangsha in 2013.
"We need to blame ourselves in order to play better in future," said Guangsha coach Li Chunjiang. "I should say we lack semifinal experience and need to play steadily."
