Wang Zhelin, Zhao Rui lift China over Egypt 71-70 at Stankovic Cup
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E-mail Xinhua, July 20, 2017
SHENZHEN, China, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Thanks to Wang Zhelin's 22 points and Zhao Rui's 27, Team Red of the Chinese men's basketball national team edged out Egypy 71-70 here on Thursday to seize their first victory at the Stankovic Continental Cup 2017.
Wang, who took only six in Wednesday's match against Croatia, opened the match with six points in-a-row and helped China to finish the first quarter leading at 16-15.
Zhao Rui made in all his four three-pointer attempts in the second quarter to score 20 points by halftime. Wang also added seven and the host outscored the Egyptian 27-17 in that period and headed into the second half with a lead of 11 points.
China, who led as many as 17 in the third quarter, suddenly lost their concentration before the final period. A 10-0 run in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter helped Egypt to turn the table. Romeh Elsadani's And1 play and Mostafa Meshaal's three-pointer helped Egypt to lead at 67-60.
Zhao Rui, who finished with a match-high 27, stood out to become the saver of the Chinese team. With one minutes and six seconds left on the clock, the 21-year-old guard made in two free throws to cut Egypt's lead to only one and then a layup to turn the table over.
Moustafa Elmekawi failed to hit Egypt's winning filed goal in the last seconds and Wang Zhelin grabbed the defense rebound to seize China the victory.
Wang finished with a second game-high 22 points. The center also grabbed seven rebounds. Ahmed Elmaragi led Egypt with 15.
"We had big problems in the second half. We led by 17 but our own mistakes almost killed the match." said Li Nan, head coach of the Team Red. "Anyway, my players tried their best from the beginning to the end."
China will play against Germany, who lost to Croatia 77-83 earlier, on Friday for the ticket to Sunday's final while Croatia, who secure the berth in the final after two straight wins, will take on the winless Egypt. Enditem
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