China suffer third straight loss in Switzerland at FIBA U19 World Cup

China lost to Slovenia 99-82 in their third game in Group B at the FIBA Under-19 World Cup in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Tuesday, suffering a third straight defeat in pool play.

Although China failed to win any games in the group stage, they still reached the round of 16, and will face New Zealand in the knockout phase on Wednesday.

China got off to a strong start after Zhu Zheng, Huan Sinan, and Zhang Boyuan launched a 6-0 run to give the team an 11-5 lead. Zhang and Chen Jiazheng both added two-pointers to increase their side's advantage to 17-8.

Slovenia responded with a 10-0 run, however, taking control of the contest and never looking back. Leon Ivicic sank five of his eight shots from outside the arc for the European squad, and Urban Kroflic was perfect on four shots from downtown, as they combined to score 36 points. Zak Smrekar added 14.

Powered by a 13-0 run in the second quarter and their 10-0 burst in the third, Slovenia jumped out to their biggest advantage at 71-43. That basically removed all suspense from the contest, although Zhang, Huan, and Ao Feng worked hard to help China trim the final margin to 17. Ao and Huan shared the team high with 12 points apiece.