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ANKARA: China slumped to a crushing 87-40 defeat to Turkey in their final group game at the world basketball championships on Thursday, but still reached the second round thanks to Puerto Rico.
Going into the final day of pool play in Group C, China, Puerto Rico and the Ivory Coast were all fighting for the final qualifying spot from the group for 16-team second round.
If the Ivory Coast were to take the final position they needed to beat Puerto Rico by 12 or more points.
With time running out it looked like the Africans had pulled it off, leading Puerto Rico 88-76, but on the buzzer David Huertas hit a three-pointer to bring the margin back to nine points.
Against Turkey, China were struggling early in the contest, managing just six points in the opening quarter to be down 15-6.
The situation did not improve in the second quarter as Turkey continued to extend the gap with China only able to add another seven points to trail 39-13 at half-time.
Sun Yu was the top contributor for the Chinese with five points while Oguz Savaz led Turkey with 10 points.
Although China were able to pick up their scoring in the third quarter, it would make little difference as Turkey continued to surge ahead, leading 66-25 with a quarter left to play.
Of particular concern to China was their shooting from outside, landing just 3 of 19 of their three-pointers for the first three quarters.
In the last quarter it was a case of the Chinese needing to put some respectability back into the score line, only for Turkey to pull further ahead, winning 87-40.
Yu finished the game as top-scorer for China with 15 points while Savaz led Turkey with 20 points.
World basketball championship results on Thursday:
Group A
Angola 55 Australia 76
Argentina 82 Serbia 84
Germany 91 Jordan 73
Group B
USA 92 Tunisia 57
Slovenia 65 Iran 60
Brazil 92 Croatia 74
Group C
Ivory Coast 88 Puerto Rico 79
Russia 73 Greece 69
Turkey 87 China 40
Group D
Spain 89 Canada 67
New Zealand 82 France 70
Lithuania 84 Lebanon 66
- AFP/de
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