Wang Zhizhi, former NBA Dallas Mavericks player, led hosts China to a 93-63 victory over New Zealand at the Basketball Stankovic Continental Cup in Macao on Wednesday.

Young talent Yi Jianlian, who will hopefully start his first NBA season this summer, top-scored among players of both sides with 17 points, while Wang with 14 points played the more significant role.

The all-rookie Wiki team, having lost two of its three previous games at the tournament, imposed no threat on the Chinese during all the four quarters.

Young players in the China team including Zhang Songtao, Wang Lei, Li Xiaoxu and Liu Xiaoyu failed to display an impressive show, making too many mistakes.

The Wikis narrowed the score gap around 10 points when the Chinese line-up was dominated by youngsters and was in particular, without Yi Jianlian or Wang Zhizhi on court.

China coach Jonas Kazlauskas attributed the victory mainly to the excellent defense, noting, "The quality defense paved way for the quality counterattacks."

China won two of its four games at the six-team tournament and is scheduled to face the U.S. NBA Development League (D-League) Ambassadors on the final match day Thursday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2007)