CHENGDU, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- China delivered its best performance in the tournament so far as Zhang Ning scored 27 points to help China beat Japan 84-62 in the men's basketball 9th-12th placings at Chengdu Universiade here on Friday.

Besides Zhang, Chen Guohao added 22 points and eight rebounds. Hong Xin scored 15 points coming off the bench.

Yu Kibayashi took a team-high 15 points for Japan, and Masahiro Waki contributed 11.

Against opponents who were on average seven centimeters shorter, China outrebounded Japan by nine rebounds. The disadvantage in rebounds did not affect the high-paced shooting frequency of the Japanese side. Throughout the game, Japan took 71 shots, only one less than the host.

However, size does matter, as guarded by much higher defenders, Japan only had bleak 34% and 13% in field goals percentage and 3-pointer percentage respectively.

After the victory, coach Chen Lei's squad will compete with Poland on August 6 for 9th place. Japan will face off against Chinese Taipei in the place 11th-12th match.

Also on Friday, Brazil beat the United States 95-82 and the Czech Republic defeated Argentina 85-68 in the semifinals. In the place 5th-8th matches, Romania nosed out South Korea 66-55 and Finland bashed Lithuania 84-69.

The final on August 6 will see Brazil vs the Czech Republic, and Argentina is set to play the United States in the bronze medal match on the same day. Enditem

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