China out of contention in basketball

LONDON - China lost to Brazil 98-59 for their fourth consecutive defeat on Saturday and they were out of the contention of the knock-out stage of the men's basketball competition at the 2012 London Olympic Games here.

This was the first time that the Chinese failed to enter the quarter-finals at the Olympics since 2000.

All the Chinese could do is to avoid a winless journey to London when they face the hosts Britain in the last game in the preliminary round on Monday.

Like the other three losses, China were squeezed on the board by 49-32 and let the Brazilians score 40 points in the paint.

Without pivot Yao Ming, who retired last summer, China lost ground every time in the big-guy showdown though they have some good outside shooters.

Guard Zhu Fangyu led China with 13 points and point guard Chen Jianghua adding 10 when power forward Yi Jianlian had five points on a 1-out-of-9 shooting day.

Marquinhos Vierira Sousa had the game-high 14 points while Leandrinho Barbosa and Guilherme Giovannoni chipping in 13 apiece. Tiago Splitter had 12 points and Anderson Varejao grabbed 13 rebounds in addition to nine points.

China's Wang Zhizhi played only three minutes without scoring due to a knee injury from last game against Australia. Yi was warned by team doctor for his knee injury but insisted on playing. Starting guard Sun Yue missed the match as he sprained an ankle during the morning warm-up.

"Injuries killed us, especially the injuries of Yi and Dodge (Wang Zhizhi)," said guard Wang Shipeng, who scored 21 points last game but only three on Saturday. "I couldn't get the usual support from the inside, which made the outside shots really difficult. Brazil dominated the paint."

Brazil never trailed in the game, leading 25-9 in the first quarter and extended the lead to over 20 points midway into the second period.

China had little to answer to and their free-throws fell short too as they were 19-out-of-30 on the line. Brazil extended the lead by every quarter.