China had an easy victory 101-57 over Chinese Taipei in Urumqi on Tuesday in the second round of the 19th Men's Junior Asia Basketball Championship.

With the victory, China is almost assured of a semi-final berth, starting on Sept. 8. However, Chinese Taipei, in spite of all their victories prior to today's match, will still be struggling with Kazakhstan for a spot in the semis.

Kazakhstan scored a lopsided victory of 96-55 over Kuwait earlier on Tuesday.

China had a slow start in the match but they soon fought back with a 19-3 run to lead by 20 points at halftime.

The Chinese team rested their ace guard Chen Jianghua in the second half but still increased their lead to more than 40 points. Chen scored 15 points in the first half.

"The young players were too nervous at the very beginning, since Chinese Taipei have not lost any matches prior to this match," Li Chunjiang, head coach of China said, "but we made adjustments and all I told them was take it easy, and believe in yourselves."

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2006)