Australia wins basketball Stankovic Cup
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Australia outscored Turkey 69-52 in the final here on Monday to win the fifth men's FIBA Stankovic Basketball Continental Cup.
The Aussie became the fifth titlists of the Cup, which was initiated in 2005 and held annually in China.
Defending champion Angola was beaten by China 58-50 in the contest for third place early Monday.
Australia controlled the game from the first period and once held a 56-36 lead before the end of the third quarter. Turkey could only manage to close it to 52-65 with two minutes left.
Three Aussies, who led 32-23 at halftime, scored double-figure with James Harvey 14 points. Turkoglu Umit and Sonkol Umit scored 11 each for Turkey, who was outrebounded 44-34 by Australia.
Early, 20-year-old Zhou Peng scored a game-high 20 points to lead China, the runner-up last year, over Angola, cliching the third place.
It was the worst result for China, who played without NBA star Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian.
Guard Zhang Qingpeng hit 14 point, Li Xiaoxu grabbed 11 rebounds for the hosts, who trounced Angola 89-62 on the first day of the Cup, but lost to Australia and Turkey in the preliminary competition.
Angola, using its second-string roster in Kunshan, was led by Miguel Kilal with 13 points and finished fourth, the last place at the current Cup.
(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2009)
