Argentina clinched third place when they beat China 84-74 at the Diamond Ball basketball tournament on Tuesday.

In a close match, the Latin Americans pulled away with an excellent final quarter after the Chinese led 66-62 at the end of the third after scoring 29 points answered by only 18.

But the Argentinians won the final period 22-8, ensuring a comfortable finish.

Argentina won the first quarter 23-21 and were even better in the third as they opened up a 44-37 advantage.

That stirred the Chinese into life but following their difficult third quarter Argentina stepped up a gear.

Manu Ginobili, who has won the NBA title with the San Antonio Spurs, scored 10 points and was one of five players to finish with double figures for Argentina.

For China, Houston Rockets ace Yao Ming, who spent 31 minutes on court, notched 17 points - a figure matched by Li Nan.

Liu Wei posted 16 points - the only other shooter to reach double figures for China.

Hosts Serbia & Montenegro won the tournament on Tuesday as they saw off Lithuania 93-80 in a final between two teams expected to challenge the United States for Olympic gold later this month.

The match pitted the world champions - the hosts - against the European champions in Lithuania.

Darius Songaila top-scored with 18 points for Lithuania while Saulius Stombergas and Arvydas Macijauskas also hit double digits with 17 and 10 respectively.

(China Daily August 5, 2004)