Regular-season winner Guangdong Hongyuan swept Wednesday Dongguan Marco Polo 3-0 after beating it 117-101 in Game 3 of the semifinals of the Chinese Basketball Association league (CBA).

Guangdong, which is seeking for the fourth title in five seasons, is waiting for the winner between Liaoning Hunters and Jiangsu Dragons on Feb. 13 after a break of the traditional Spring Festival.

Liaoning took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series after crushing Jiangsu 118-92 at home. Game 4 will be played at Liaoning's home court on Friday.

Guangdong built up an 18-point lead after the break and never let Dongguan come back after that.

Dixon Lamar had 28 points and 11 rebounds for Guangdong, which lost to Bayi Fubang in the finals last season, while Zhu Fangyu and Du Feng added 25 and 22 points respectively.

Anthony Myles led Dongguan by 29 points and eight rebounds.

Liaoning won the second quarter by 40-19 to put the game beyond doubt as it led as many as 30 points in the second half.

Both teams took almost a whole day to fly to Yingkou, Liaoning Province, after Sunday's Game 2 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, as historical bad weather delayed many flights from Jiangsu.

Power forward Li Xiaoxu had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the home team as both teams used reserves in the last 24 minutes.

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2008)