Published: January 6, 2018

Jimmer Fredette had a second-half performance for the ages, but it wasn’t enough to carry the Sharks back from a huge deficit as they fell to the Beikong Fly Dragons 103-100 on Saturday.

The former BYU guard scored 33 of his game-high 35 points in the second half as the Sharks climbed out of a 24-point halftime hole only to see Zaid Abbas connect on a three with less than a minute to go to put the Fly Dragons over the top.

The game-winning shot topped off a massive showing for Abbas who finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists while playing all 48 minutes.

He had plenty of help from Shavlik Randolph who totaled a team-high 32 points on 12-for-22 shooting from the field, including 5-for-8 from distance while adding eight rebounds and three assists. Stephon Marbury also had a nice game for the Fly Dragons with 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the field while adding four assists and a pair of steals in 31 minutes.

Fredette had a difficult start with just two first-half points as the Sharks found themselves in a 55-31 halftime hole before he got things going and turned the game around. He scored 16 of his team’s 37 third-quarter points, including three shots from beyond the arc as Shanghai cut the Fly Dragons’ lead to three.

He continued to carry the offense with 17 more points in the fourth, including two game-tying baskets in the final minutes before Abbas hit the game winner.

All told, Fredette finished with 35 points on 10-for-28 shooting from the field, including 6-for-17 from beyond the arc and 9-for-9 from the foul line. He added six rebounds, six assists and two steals in 40 minutes.

Nick Minnerath added 18 points and eight rebounds while Dong Hanlin totaled 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

On the season, Fredette is averaging 37.2 points on 45 percent shooting from inside the arc, 43 percent from 3-point land and 96 percent from the foul line. He also contributes 6.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals in 40.5 minutes.

Up next for Fredette and the Sharks is a game with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers on Tuesday before a week off for the All-Star break.

The Flying Tigers are 15-9 on the season and in sixth place in the CBA standings. They are led by high-scoring guard Darius Adams who is averaging a league-leading 40.7 points to go along with 8.6 assists, 7.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals in 43.2 minutes a game.

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