Jimmer Fredette didn’t have his best shooting performance of the season, but he did enough to help lead the Shanghai Sharks to an important 88-79 win over the Beijing Ducks on Tuesday.

Fredette finished with a team-high 28 points on 10-for-29 shooting from the floor, including just 2-for-8 from beyond the arc and 6-for-7 from the foul line. He also led the Sharks with nine rebounds and five assists in 43 minutes as Shanghai improved to 13-14 on the season.

While he didn’t shoot the ball well on the night, Fredette came up big when it mattered most with key basket after key basket in the fourth quarter as the Sharks outscored the Ducks by six to come away with the win.

Fredette also had plenty of help from Zhang Zhaoxu and Nick Minnerath who put up some big numbers in the victory. Zhaoxu had his best game of the season with 27 points on 10-for-11 shooting from the floor, including five dunks while also hitting 7 of 10 attempts from the foul line. He added eight rebounds, a steal and a block in 33 minutes.

Like Fredette, Minnerath struggled to shoot the ball in the low scoring affair, but still managed 15 points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes. Luo Hanchen also had a solid outing as he chipped in with 10 points, four assists and a pair of steals in 42 minutes.

The balanced offensive attack from the Sharks was just enough to overcome a massive performance from former Lone Peak High School star Justin Hamilton who totaled 41 points on 16 of 30 shooting from the field and 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. He also contributed 19 rebounds and four blocks in 40 minutes of work.

But Hamilton couldn’t do it alone as the rest of the team combined to score 38 points while making just 14 of 45 shots in the defeat.

On the season, Fredette is averaging 37.4 points on 45 percent shooting from inside the arc, 43 percent from 3-point land and 96 percent from the foul line. He also chips in with 7.0 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.9 steals in 40.8 minutes.

Up next for Fredette and the Sharks is a matchup with the Bayi Rockets on Friday. The Rockets are at the bottom of the CBA table with a 3-23 record. They have a game on Wednesday against Xinjiang before squaring off with Shanghai.

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