Both Chinese men's and women's basketball teams pulled off to win their opening games at the 6th East Asian Games (EAG) here on Thursday.
"We had some injuries and trained just one week before the event kicked off. We had a good defense in this game to restrict the opponents's score below 15 points in every quarter," said Chinese head coach Fan Bin.
The Chinese men's team, based on Chinese Olympic basketball team, held off Japan 60-47, thanks to Duan Jiangpeng's two consecutive 3-pointers in last three minutes of the game.
Duan finished with 11 points. Sun Tonglin had a big double-double of 13 points and 18 rebounds, dishing out four assists. Nomoto Kengo of Japan got a game-high 20 points.
The hosts trailed by five points after the first quarter, while getting back into the game with a 13-7 second quarter.
China's lead was within five points in the third quarter. With five minutes remaining, Zhao Tailong finished a spectacular dunk in a fast break to cheer home audiences up. Then Duan shone with two consecutive 3-pointers, extending the lead to 11 points to secure the victory for China.
China will face Hong Kong of China on Friday.
The Chinese women's basketball team beat Chinese Taipei 78-65. Center Huang Hongpin became the key factor for the home team with 9 points out of 11 points in total in the fourth quarter.
"Generally speaking, she didn't perform well in the first game of such events as EAG, while improving that after the halftime," said Wang Guizhi, head coach of the Chinese women's team.
Chinese girls' next opponents will be Guam.
