The Liaoning Flying Leopards defeated the Zhejiang Lions 99-90 on Friday, seizing a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) finals.

Liaoning's lineup remained stable, while Zhejiang was still without its two top scorers due to injuries and was forced to experiment with a new rotation after being trounced in the opener.

The changes seemed to have paid off as Zhejiang led 28-24 in the first quarter, during which 21-year-old role player Xu Ke, who made the starting line up for the first time in CBA Finals, put up 11 points for Zhejiang.

It didn't take long for Liaoning to adjust to Zhejiang's new strategy. The stunning Xu didn't score a single point during the rest of the game as Liaoning strengthened its defense from the second quarter. Before the interval, Liaoning has built a 10-point advantage thanks to a 17-1 run in the latter phase of the second quarter engined by Kyle Fogg.

"We knew they were going to come out and play really hard," said Fogg at the post-game press conference.

"We played very good together as a team and started with the defense. When we moved the ball and executed the game plan, we were a tough team to beat," he added.

The game seemed to have lost suspense when Liaoning held a 23-lead in hand 80-57 in the third quarter, but its advantage was sliced down to 88-79 with less than four minutes on the clock. Zhang Zhenlin, Han Dejun, and Eric Moreland joined efforts in attacking in the paint, allowing Liaoning to refuse Zhejiang's comeback.

Liaoning's head coach Yang Ming was unsatisfied with his team's performance in the fourth quarter.

"The main problem was that we didn't stay focused for the whole time," said Yang after the game. "Zhejiang has been troubled by injuries, but their young players' spirit is worth learning from."

Fogg and Zhejiang's Sun Minghui scored game-high 27 points respectively. Fu Hao added 19 points for Liaoning.

Game 3 of the CBA finals will be held on Sunday.

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