Foreign Aids Go Toe-to-Toe! Jackson Racks Up Points as Nye & Weems Combine for High Scores

On the evening of July 15, in a regular-season NBL match, Anhui Wenyi defeated Shijiazhuang Xianglan 111-104 away from home. In this game, Shijiazhuang Xianglan performed well in the first half, even leading Anhui Wenyi by 11 points at one point in the second quarter. However, Anhui Wenyi made a strong push in the third quarter with a 36-18 advantage. In the final quarter, Shijiazhuang Xianglan did not give up but, in the clutch moments, Anhui’s foreign aid, Jackson, stepped up, ultimately leading to Shijiazhuang’s regretful defeat. Throughout the entire game, Jackson played for 33 minutes and 13 seconds, making 11 out of 18 shots, including 3 out of 9 three-pointers, and converting 15 out of 16 free throws, resulting in an explosive 40 points, 2 rebounds, and 6 assists, along with 2 steals and 2 fouls. Compared to the other two foreign aids, Johnson and Zubasic, Jackson was in much better form. Johnson and Zubasic combined for 21 points.

On the home court side of Shijiazhuang, their trio of foreign aids combined for 71 points but couldn’t save the team. Among them, Nye and Weems combined for 56 points. Nye started and played for 30 minutes and 48 seconds, making 11 out of 16 shots, converting 5 out of 7 free throws, and scoring an empty 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists. Meanwhile, Weems made 11 out of 22 shots, including 5 out of 10 three-pointers, and converted 2 out of 3 free throws, scoring a team-high 29 points with 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Ennis came off the bench, shooting 6 out of 1, scoring 15 points and grabbing 3 rebounds. Shijiazhuang mainly lost the game due to their poor free-throw performance; they only made 14 out of 24 free throws, a free-throw percentage of just 58.3%. Conversely, Anhui Wenyi made 27 out of 28 free throws. If Shijiazhuang could have capitalized on their free-throw opportunities, they might not have lost the game.