Italy beat China 87-79 in the second phase of the Four-nation Basketball Invitational Tournament in Guangdong yesterday.

The Chinese team, mainly comprised of young players, already lost to Italy 74-69 in their first round clash and Tuesday were unable to stem the blue tide, adding to their losing streak against Italy since 2000. 

China dominated for most of the match, going in front at the end of the first three quarters: 24-17, 39-37 and 63-60, but Italy rallied in the fourth and put China on the back foot, setting up their 87-79 triumph.

China's losing team were led by former NBA player Wang Zhizhi with 22 points. Wang Lei contributed 14 points with Wang Shipeng chipping in with 12 points.

According to China's head coach Jonas Kazlauskas, Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue, absent in the US preparing for the NBA 2007 draft, will rejoin the national team as well as Guangdong duo Du Feng and Zhu Fangyu after the four-nation tour.

Earlier in the day, Australia edged out Croatia 82-79 for their fourth win in a row in China.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, June 20, 2007)