Chinese men's basketball team celebrate their victory on the champion stage after defeating South Korea by 77-71 in the basketball final of the Asian Games in Guangzhou Friday. [Xinhua]

Defending champions China beat South Korea 77-71 to defend their men's basketball title at the Asian Games here on Friday.

The two sides played a close game from the very beginning which marked several lead changes before China, who defeated South Korea 76-66 in the preliminary round, finished the first quarter 27-21.

South Korea opened the second quarter with a 6-0 run and took the lead 37-31 with 5:10 minutes left in the quarter. Wang Shipeng's consecutive three jumpers and Sun Yue's one three point play and one 3-pointers put China 43-37 ahead at the end of the first half.

Teams shot a high percent with South Korea 67 (13-for-19) and China 59 (17-for-29), but China outscored the Korean in 3-pointer shooting 5-4.

South Korean twice trimmed the deficit to five in the third quarter before entering the fourth 56-64.

The hosts used an 8-2 spurt to expand the lead to 72-58 capped by Sun Yue's jumper. But the Korean fought back with a 13-2 charge, which included two 3-pointers, with 2:15 minutes remaining.

Trading back to back no baskets for both sides, Wang Zhizhi, who scored 20 points for China, tipped in a second chance with 50 seconds left for a 76-71 edge before Ding Jinhui hit one of two free throws to seal the victory.

Wang Zhizhi, who led all Chinese starters to score double-digit, nailed in six of his 11 in the second half. Ding Jinhui and Sun Yue each added 14 while Wang Shipeng, who hit a key 3-pointer in the last seconds to help China beat Iran 68-65 in semifinal Thursday night, and Liu Wei got 10 apiece.

South Korea had three players scoring double-figure with Kim Joo Sung and Cho Sungmin each 15 points, and guard Yang Donggeun 17.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2010)