Jiangsu and Liaoning scored their away victories to seal off the 2004-05 regular season of the China Basketball Association league.

Jiangsu, second-placed finisher in the regular season last year, defeated Shanghai 106-94 to set the league-best winning record of 35-3.

Top-scorer Tang Zhengdong also led the league on points with 24.1 points per game.

Liaoning, who finished the bottom 12th place last season, led the North Conference before it defeated Xinjiang 111-106 in overtime on Wednesday.

Former national coach Jiang Xingquan lined up a young squad to collect 67 points with a 29-9 record.

In other games, Beijing exploited their home advantage to blanket Shaanxi 107-89, Bayi beat visiting league-tailing Fujian 114-95, while Yunnan upset Zhejiang 104-89.

Top four teams in each division after the regular-season matches enter their division finals, which starts from March 9 till 20 to decide the rankings in their respective divisions.

The cross-division CBA finals will start on March 23 on the best-of-three format, with the winners advancing to the league semifinals and finals, both on the best-of-five basis.

(CRI March 3, 2005)