ZADAR, Croatia, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- CBA champions Liaoning Flying Leopards finished sixth at the Zadar Basketball Tournament where they lost 100-64 to Maccabi Tel Aviv on Sunday in the 5th-place playoff.
This was the highest scoring game for Liaoning at the tournament but the 36-point difference was just as it was a day before against Bayern Munich.
In all three games combined, against CSKA Moscow, Bayern Munich and Maccabi Tel Aviv, average losing margin for CBA champions was almost 39 points. Despite of that fact, Liaoning head coach Guo Shiqiang saw all three games as a valuable tests.
"In these three games we learned a lot and that's why this was a very good trip for us. It's a very good experience for us to play against very strong European teams. We learned a lot. Unfortunately, we didn't have all of our players with us so we couldn't test how close we are to those teams when we have a full roster," said Guo after the match in which he benched American point guard Lester Hudson.
The 28 turnovers was something that he saw as the biggest problem for his team. American center Brandon Bass scored 19 points against Maccabi and had five rebounds. Cong Mingchen scored nine points and Liu Zhixuan had eight points with four assists.
Maccabi had five players in double digits led by Yovel Zoosman and Angelo Caloiaro who scored 15 points each. Deni Avdija had 13 points.
"We didn't have a result in our focus here but both games against Fenerbahce and Olimpia Milano could've gone our way. We got what we wanted from this very well organized tournament," said Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach and former Croatian national team coach Neven Spahija, who was born in a nearby Sibenik.
Even though Liaoning Flying Leopards couldn't follow the pace of some of the best European teams that they played against in Kresimir Cosic Sport Hall, their head coach would love to come again to Croatia and Zadar Basketball Tournament.
"We would like to come to Croatia again and to this tournament, because we know that Croatia has a high quality basketball clubs and players. This was a valuable experience for us," Guo said.
