Published: January 4, 2018

Jimmer Fredette had another impressive showing as the Shanghai Sharks got back to the .500 mark with a 119-92 win over the Sichuan Blue Whales on Thursday.

Fredette finished with a game-high 31 points on 11-for-25 shooting from the floor, including 4-for-11 from beyond the arc and 5-for-6 from the foul line. The former BYU guard also managed nine assists, seven rebounds and three steals in 38 minutes of work.

Fredette did most of his damage on the offensive end in the first half with 19 points as the Sharks opened up a 61-42 lead at halftime. He got things going from the start with a quick basket before adding back-to-back threes. He followed that up with three free throws as the Sharks opened up a 12-point lead and never looked back.

He got plenty of help as four other Sharks scored in double figures, including Nick Minnerath who totaled 21 points on the strength of 5-for-9 shooting from beyond 3-point land.

Luo Hanchen added 13 points and five rebounds while Zhang Zhaoxu chipped in with 11 points, seven rebounds, seven blocks and three assists.

Ike Diogu paced the Blue Whales with 27 points and 17 rebounds while Hamed Haddadi totaled 26 points, 21 rebounds and five assists in the losing effort.

On the season, Fredette is third in the league in scoring averaging 37.3 points on 45 percent shooting from inside the arc, 44 percent from 3-point range and 96 percent from the foul line. He also averages 7.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals in 40.5 minutes.

Up next for Fredette and the Sharks is a Beikong Fly Dragons on Saturday. The Fly Dragons are one game ahead of Shanghai in the CBA standings at 13-11 after a 144-138 win over the Shanxi Brave Dragons on Thursday.

Beikong is led by the American duo of Shavlik Randolph and Stephon Marbury. Randolph is in the middle of one of his best seasons in China averaging 30.3 points, 14.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists while Marbury is chipping in with 13.8 points, 5.2 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals in his ninth season in the CBA.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the two squads with the Sharks pulling out a 123-119 victory the first time around. In the come-from-behind win, Fredette totaled 54 points on 11-for-20 shooting from distance to go along with 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

Here are highlights from that epic performance.

Photo credit: By Bagumba (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Video credit: SPNJRT – The Lonely Master Highlights