体坛英语新闻：China beats Russia to enter Stankovic Cup final

GUANGZHOU, July 8 (Xinhua) -- After two big wins over Tunisia and Australia, the Chinese basketball team proves its best form again by beating Russia 73-67 in the third game and got a berth in the final at the Stankovic Cup here on Sunday.

China was once lagged by 7 points after the first quarter but the hosts opened the second quarter with a 12-0 surge in 4 minutes to grab the lead.

China maintained its advantage in the latter half and finished the game at 73-67.

Yi Jianlian made a double-double with 28 points and 17 rebounds. This is his best personal statistic at Stankovic Cup.

On the Russian side, Ivan Strebkov and Sergey Toropov scored double-digit with 13 and 11 points respectively while Vladimir Ivlev and Denis Polokhin were fouled out after committing 5 personal fouls.

Russia coach blamed their loss on their large number of fouls made. "Our two centers have made too many fouls and this limited their movement under the basket."

China coach Bob Donewald Jr. said: "Russia did very well in their defense but we started to perform better after the second quarter." He also applauded Yi and Sun Yue for their performance.

In an earlier game, Tunisia defeated Australia 62-60 for their first win at Guangzhou.

Australia led the game in the first three quarters but failed to defend its advantage at the final quarter where Tunisia outscored Australia by 8 points.