China beat Australia in International Basketball Challenge opener

BEIJING, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Team Blue of the Chinese men's basketball team won the opening game of the Sino-Australian Men's International Basketball Series 68-66 here on Wednesday.

The hosts trailed by 6 points at the first quarter as the Aussies scored 4 three-pointers. Wu Qian led China to fight back in the second period and continued his surprising performance with a game-high 25 points.

Jerome Randle scored 13 for his team and the score was tied several times. Australia moved ahead 49-46 to begin the final quarter and fought hard to keep the advantage, but China bounced back and Li Gen's decisive three-pointer helped China extend the gap to 6 points, then China hold up the advantage and ended the game at 68-66.

The second game will be played in Jilin on July 7 and the series will be concluded in Dongguan on July 9.