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Chinese men's basketball team suffer defeat to Joventut Badalona 70-65

Sports Scene

Yu Jiahao (R) of China handles the ball in an exhibition game against Spanish Liga ACB club Joventut Badalona in Quzhou, China, September 18, 2024. /CFP
Yu Jiahao (R) of China handles the ball in an exhibition game against Spanish Liga ACB club Joventut Badalona in Quzhou, China, September 18, 2024. /CFP

Yu Jiahao (R) of China handles the ball in an exhibition game against Spanish Liga ACB club Joventut Badalona in Quzhou, China, September 18, 2024. /CFP

Four crucial turnovers led to China falling to Spanish Liga ACB club Joventut Badalona 70-65 in an exhibition game in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, on Wednesday. The defeat marks the eighth loss in a row for the Chinese men's national basketball team.

Wang Lanqin sliced in for a layup and China led 17-10 in the first quarter.

Joventut battled back in the second quarter, but Hu Mingxuan found Yang Hansen to put the hosts back in control.

With the home team trailing by five points in the third quarter, Liao Sanning stole the ball and finished with a dunk on his way to a game-high 16 points for China.

But Badalona continued to increase the gap in the fourth quarter, as Yannick Kraag stole and dunked to make it 67-59 for the Spanish Liga ACB side.

The Dutch international scored again and Joventut Badalona led by 10 points with less than two minutes remaining. Kragg finished with 11 points and his club won by five. The two teams will meet again in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, on Friday.

"There are three reasons for this loss," China coach Guo Shiqiang said. "The first is that we made four mistakes in the last three-and-a-half minutes, two on defense and the other two on offense. The second is that our concentration and ability to execute were poor in the closing minutes. The third is that our free throw percentage was only 60%, which is too low."

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