China defeat Australia in Internationl Basketball Challenge opener

The Chinese national basketball team won the opener of the three-stop Sino-Australian Men's International Basketball series 57-49 here on Friday.

Chinese basketball star Yi Jianlian and Zhou Qi will not show up in the series, while Andrew Bogut and Patty Mills from the Australian side also miss the event.

The Chinese national team' s field goal in the first quarter remained low and they suffered from many turnovers. The Australian national team led the first quarter by 15-9.

Zou Yuchen got 5 points for team China at the beginning of the second quarter to narrow the gap to 4 points. But the Australians scored 2 three-pointers as a response. The Chinese team did not perform well offensively and the whole team merely score 22 points and was 9 points behind before half time.

The Chinese team intensified their defense in the third quarter and Ding Yanyuhang and Zou Yuchen each scored 6 points to help Team China take over the lead. In contrast, the Australian team' s turnovers began to increase. At the end of the quarter, China led by 45-38.

In the last quarter, Team China continued their remarkable performance and the guest team was not able to narrow the gap.

Zou Yuchen and Li Muhao scored 13 and 10 points respectively and Todd Blanchfield scored a team-high 11 points for the Australians.

The second stop will be played in Guangzhou on May 8 and the series will be concluded in Beijing on May 10. Endit