JIYUAN, China, June 5 -- A strong run in the third period gifted hosts China a 70-55 win over the visiting U.S. IBL All-Star squad here on Sunday in the 2011 Sino-American International Basketball Challenge.
The Chinese national team fielded all its reserves today. Center Zhang Kai scored the game-high 17 points and promising youngster Han Shuo added 10.
The U.S. players are mainly from Elkhart Express, the 2006 and 2007 champions of the seven-year-old Inernational Basketball League, one of the U.S. minor leagues.
Power forward James Jackson snatched the team-high 12 points for the visitors.
Dominating in the rebounds on 36-23, the home team defended well and limited the opponents' shooting percentage at 37.
"There were too many turnovers, which was a problem," China head coach Rober Donewald said after match. "We missed a lot of open shot in the first half, but things changed in the second. Generally speaking, I'm happy with those guys' performance tonight."
Struggling with a frozen hand from the very beginning, both sides shot badly and only had a wretched 9-8 by the end of the first period. The two teams fell into the deadlock then and the lead was exchanged for several times.
Recovering from the slow start, the Chinese team rallied with free-flowing attacks in the second half and hit out a strong run in the thrid period. Since then, the visitors saw little chance to turn the table.
The two sides had clashed on June 5 at Tong Chuan in Shaanxi Province of China, where China won on 85-63. They will meet again on June 7 at Yong Cheng in Henan Province of China, which will be their last encounter this year.