China trounces Malaysia at FIBA Asia Championship

China recovered from Thursday's loss to arch-rivals South Koreaand thrashed Malaysia 113-22 in their Group C match here on Friday at the 27th Asian Men's Basketball Championship.

Wang Zhelin led the defending champion with 21 points and eight rebounds while veteran Wang Zhizhi played 18 minutes to grab 17 points, as well as three rebounds and five assists. Wang played only three minutes in Thursday's match against South Korea.

China enlarged their lead to 60 points after the third quarter and only let the Malaysian team score three points in the final period.

Yi Jianlian stayed on bench due to his injury. All 11 Chinese players except Chen Jianghua scored. Guo Ailun and Zhu Fangyu took 16 points each.

The Chinese team, who made 14 three-point attempts but buried none in Thursday match, were 12-of-26 in today's match. Zhu's four three-pointers led the team.

Ooi Ban-Sin led Malaysia with nine points.

China will play against Iranon Saturday, who beat them in the final in 2009 at Tianjian.