Tokyo 2020: Canada beat China by 30 points in Fiba Olympic basketball qualifier
- Chinese men must beat Greece to progress to semi-finals and retain hope of qualifying for Olympic hoops tournament
- Andrew Wiggins stars for hosts in Victoria but China’s Hu Mingxuan top scores with 24 points in 109-79 defeat
It ended 109-79 but Canada led from the start, establishing an eight-point advantage at the end of the first quarter and not looking back.
Canada coach Nick Nurse used the same starting five that took to the floor in their opening win over Greece the previous day.
China were playing their opening game at the mini-tournament and it was the hosts that looked the more coherent.
They dominated the boards with a Lu Dort highlight reel dunk one of 20 offensive rebounds for Canada.
China were also on the wrong end of 17 three-pointers – 11 of them coming in the first half.
Andrew Wiggins top scored with 20 points for Canada, who had seven players in double figures. RJ Barrett put up 16 points, while Andrew Nicholson helped out with 14.
Golden State Warriors guard Wiggins had scored 23 in the previous day’s 97-91 win over Greece – his first game for Canada since 2015 – and was again the star, but he was outshone on the scoreboard by China’s Hu Mingxuan, who scored 24 points.
China play Greece on Friday morning (Hong Kong time) in a winner-takes-all game for the other spot in the semi-final.
The top two teams from each group go to the semi-finals, with the eventual winner taking the ticket to Tokyo.
The Greeks are missing star player Giannis Antetokounmpo, of the Milwaukee Bucks, who are playing in the NBA Play-offs Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks.
Antetokounmpo is an injury doubt for the Bucks in Game Five.
