China Wins at Buzzer

Not a bad win at all for China, especially considering that Slovenia is pretty tough squad even by international standards. It’ll be interesting to see how far China goes in the tournament.

Yao Ming scored 36 points and Wang Shipeng made a 3-pointer as time expired to give China a 78-77 victory over Slovenia on Thursday, a win that helped send the Chinese to the second round of the world championships.

The Chinese (2-3) won their final two Group D games to tie Slovenia and Puerto Rico for third place. Slovenia and China earned the group’s final two spots in Saitama, with both having better point differentials than the Puerto Ricans, who were eliminated.

“We will fight again,” China coach Jonas Kazlauskas said.

Sani Becirovic scored 20 points for Slovenia, which would have clinched a berth in the second round in its world championships debut, but instead was forced to wait for Puerto Rico’s 73-72 loss to Italy. A Puerto Rican victory would have eliminated the Slovenians, who instead finished third with a slightly better point differential than the Chinese.

With four NBA players on its roster, Slovenia (2-3) was thought to be the second-best team behind the United States in Group D. But the Slovenians blew double-digit leads in two of their losses — including a 14-point lead in this one.

Yao, leading the tournament with 28.4 points per game, scored 21 in the second half. Playing all 40 minutes after a recent four-month absence with a broken foot, he was 13-of-21 from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds, while dominating fellow NBA centers Rasho Nesterovic and Primoz Brezec. #