Serbia beat China to advance into top 8 in Rio Olympics (Updated)

Serbia beat China 94-60 for their second win in Group A to advance into the quarterfinals of the men's basketball tournament here late Sunday night.

Bogdan Bogdanovic led Serbia with 19 points while China's Yi Jianlian had the game-high 20 points.

China, which needed a win for a slim chance to advance, had a brief lead at the beginning by 4-2, but Serbia quickly opened the gap to 24-18 in the first quarter.

A 9-0 run extended Serbia's lead to 33-18, though China refused to be intimated by any opponents throughout the tournament, trailing 43-28 at the break.

The young Chinese did not make miracle as Serbia used another 17-2 run to pull away by 60-30 midway into the third, when Serbia led as many as 38 points.

Serbia kept their pace to build a bigger winning margin although a fourth finishing is the best they could have in the group with two wins and three losses, leading 90-45 in the fourth quarter.

China lost all five matches four years ago at 2012 London Games, but things were different this time.

"I think the Chinese team is younger this time and ready for challeng," Chinese head coach Gong Luming said. "They are eager to win. They want to contribute. That is the difference and also the hope of Chinese basketball."

Yi said, "This is a hard time for Chinese basketball. Our team is young and they don't have chances to compete with the best teams in the world. We have hard work back home."

The United States, Australia, France and Serbia advanced into the top 8 from the group. Endit