Houston Rockets center Yao Ming notched 22 points to help China rout Croatia 92 - 55 last night at the final game of the Four-Nation Basketball Challenge in Beijing.

With the victory, China won the title with three wins. The team defeated Canada and Brazil in two previous games.

Coming back from a toe injury, Yao played for 20 minutes, shooting 5-7 from the field and 12-15 in free throws. Apart from his dazzling individual shows, including a dunk in the third quarter that drew deafening cheers from fans, Yao displayed smooth work with his teammates with some entertaining passes to Yi Jianlian, a promising center who is expected to follow in Yao's extra-large footsteps.

China also maintained a successful defense, leaving the Croatians a poor 34 shooting percentage from the field.

"This is probably the best game that we have played," said an elated head coach Del Harris. "I like the way that we competed and it's good for us to play against physical teams like Croatia and Brazil. It's a good experience to get to know those kinds of boxing matches in the basketball world."

Against the towering Chinese, the inexperienced Croatians played a tough physical game, sparking several quarrels.

But China held its own and jumped to a quick 26 -16 lead in the first quarter, widening the gap to 42 - 29 at the half.

China totally dominated the third with its tight zone defense, which allowed the Croatians to score a mere eight points.

"I thought the zone defense tonight was outstanding," said Harris. "I did not expect the zone defense to grab the scene because it was not as active as it needed in the first two games."

Yao fueled China to finish the third with a 30-point lead.

Harris said the team, which just finished a training camp in Dallas before the tournament, has more room for improvement before the Athens Olympics next month. He said that Yao's physical condition is improving, which will give his teammates better play with him. Harris says those will be points in China's favor as the Games draw near.

The four teams will soon travel to Urumqi in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to play the second leg of the tournament.

(China Daily July 12, 2004)