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BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- With needing only one more victory to reach the CBA finals, Xinjiang has to wait for next match, as they lost to Liaoning 107-109 on Friday in Game 4 of the best-of-seven semifinal series.
Zhao Jiwei tipped a missed shot in the last four seconds. After a red-face argument on the timer, Xinjiang got 0.3 second, but they failed to tie the game again.
"There must be something wrong with the timer, we are the visiting team and have to accept it. It doesn't matter, and we will do our best in Sunday's match," said Li Qiuping, coach of Xinjiang.
Liaoning established a 33-25 lead in the first quarter, as Liu Zhixuan scored four three-pointers out of five.
With help from Zhou Qi's rebounds and Li Gen's three-pointers, Xinjiang narrowed the gap to five points when the first half ended.
They exchanged the lead in the third quarter. Scoring two three-pointers in the last quarter, Guo Ailun helped Liaoning get a six-point advantage with two minutes remaining.
After Yu Changdong scored two points in a quick attack, Xinjiang tied the game. The controversial game-winning shot from Zhao Jiwei extended their semifinals to Game 5.
Liu Zhixuan scored a team-high 25 points, with seven three-pointers. Lester Hudson got 23 points, and Zhao Jiwei pocketed 10 points and 10 assists.
Zhou Qi paced Xinjiang with a game-high 28 points along with 13 rebounds, Andray Blatche and Darius Adams added 36 points altogether.
In the other semifinal clash on Friday, Carlos Boozer grabbed a team-high 27 points to help Guangdong beat Shenzhen 90-81.
Guangdong also needs only one more win to advance to the finals.
