ISTANBUL (Türkiye) – China pulled off the surprise of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 by defeating title contenders France 73-70 in Group B to actually remain undefeated against the Europeans in this competition.
Boyuan Zhang led China with 18 points and 8 rebounds, Yuezhou Li had 14 points and Sinan Huan chipped in 12 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks.
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It was a tough game and at first we didn’t think we were going to win but we just fought. I am just super proud of my team.”
– China center Sinan Huan
China rallied from 15 points down midway through the second quarter and took the lead in the third quarter. The game went back and forth and France were up 58-56 after 30 minutes. France held a 67-61 cushion midway through the final period but Sinan sparked a 9-0 spurt to pull ahead 70-67 with under 2 minutes left.
Maxence Lemoine converted two free throws for France but Zhang hit a floater in the lane for a 73-70 advantage with 9.2 seconds to play to secure the win.
China and France have previously faced off twice in the history of the competition and the Asians won both games. They beat France 59-53 in the group stage in 2012 and then captured an 87-79 victory in the Classification 7-8 game in 2014.
China’s win comes just eight days after they lost to France 90-48 in a preparation game in Saint-Julien-les-Villas, France.
China are now 1-1 in Group B and France fell to 0-2.
FIBA