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Lithuania beat China in third game of basketball friendly series

Xinhua, June 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

China's men's basketball team lost to their Lithuanian counterparts 77-73 in the third game of a three-match friendly series here on Sunday.

Former NBA player Yi Jianlian scored team-high 24 points and had eight boards for China. Point guard Zhao Jiwei finished with 18 points in his first start for the Chinese national team.

China was outrebounded 27-22 by Lithuania, and the latter grabbed 10 offensive rebounds.

"We had some problems in our motivation and lost the rebounds. We should learn to grab the rebound, not just waiting for it," said Chinese player Zhai Xiaochuan.

Thanks to Zhao Jiwei's eight points in a row, China launched a 15-5 run to build a double-digit margin as the first quarter ran out.

However, after Chinese promising star Zhou Qi was fouled out in the second quarter, the home team's lead was cut down to within five points.

Lithuania made a strong comeback in the second half, jumping 56-53 ahead after the third quarter. After they extended the lead to eight points in the last 12 minutes, China could never get closer than three points until the final whistle.

"We were defeated by ourselves. We should only expect a good future by taking every second seriously," said Chinese head coach Gong Luming. Endi