A big day from Jimmer Fredette wasn’t enough for the Sharks to overcome a massive scoring performance from Errick McCollum as the Beikong Fly Dragons stunned Shanghai 116-112 in overtime on Friday night.
McCollum finished with a game-high 48 points on 16 for 31 shooting from the floor and 10 for 12 from the free-throw line.
Fredette did his best to keep the Sharks in the game with a team-high 46 points on 13 for 32 shooting from the floor, including 7 for 20 from beyond the arc and 13 for 14 from the free-throw line. He added 14 rebounds, five assists and a steal in 47:15.
After a slow start that saw him score just 11 points in the first half, Fredette got things going in the third. He scored nine points in the quarter as the Sharks cut the deficit down to one.
He followed that up with a monstrous fourth quarter that saw him score 19 points, including three free throws with 9.9 seconds remaining to push the game to overtime.
Fredette added seven more points in the overtime session, including a crazy off-balance 3-pointer, but Beikong answered the Sharks at ever turn.
Yang Chin-Min added 19 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Fly Dragons who improved to 4-14 with the win while Esteban Batista managed 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Guerschon Yabusele, Zhai Yi and Lu Wei each reached double figures in scoring for the Sharks who dropped just their second game in 18 tries.
Yabusele finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds while Yi and Wei chipped in with 14 and 13 points respectively.
On the season, Fredette is averaging a league-leading 39.6 points on 49.2 percent shooting from the floor, including 40.7 percent from 3-point range and 91.9 percent from the free-throw line. He also contributes 9.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.1 steals.
Up next for Fredette and Shanghai is a matchup with the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions. The Lions are 14-4 on the season following a 105-102 loss to Liaoning.
Players to watch are Courtney Fortson and Elijah Holman. Fortson is averaging 28.6 points, 7.7 assists and 6.2 rebounds while Holman adds 18.7 points and 10.3 rebounds.