Although Argentina rested their star guard Manu Ginobili, who helped the San Antonio Spurs win the NBA title last month, the Olympic gold winners trounced Australia 88-57 in the second game of the Stankovic Continental Champions Cup at the Capital Stadium in Beijing on Tuesday.

Argentina started the game with stunning give-and-go strategy and accurate jump shots. Their fast breaks ignited a 13-2 burst and led 24-9 after the first quarter.

The Argentinean restricted Australia to just nine points in the second quarter and led 46-18.  

Australia still could not find their pace until the last minute. Argentina utilized all the bench players to widen the gap to 38 points.

CJ-Bruton of Australia scored the game-high of 21 points with 3 assists.

Gabriel Fernandez led Argentina with 16 points and Roman Gonzalez added 13 points and 6 rebounds.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Li Xiao, July 26, 2005)