China grabs Stankovic Cup first win, but head coach Yannakis unhappy

GUANGZHOU - China beat Nigeria 58-52 at the Stankovic Continental Champions Cup here on Friday.

Despite their first victory in the basketball tournament, China's Greek coach Yannakis was not satisfied with his players' performance.

"We made couples of mistakes in the first half and lost many rebounds. Although we made it into the right way the second half, we still couldn't concentrate on the game 100 percent after many days without match," said Yannakis.

Nigerian center Oyedeji, who previously played for several teams in the Chinese league, led an 8-0 run for Nigeria in the first half before the African team went up 33-27 at the break.

China strengthened defense in the third quarter as Yi Jianlian clutched a game-high 16 points to help China reverse the game eventually.

Chinese big name Wang Zhizhi didn't step on the court due to leg injury.

"We are a very young team and failed to execute coach's tactics well in the second half," said Oyedeji.

In an later game, three players scored double-digit as Argentina thrashed Puerto Rico on 72-58.