BEIJING (China) - China survived a tougher-than-expected fight against Cote d'Ivoire in their FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 opener with their star trio Guo Ailun, Yi Jianlian and Zhou Qi doing the heavy-lifting in a 70-55 win in Group A.

Yi scored 17 of his team-high 19 points in the second half to go with 8 rebounds while TCL Player of the Game Guo tallied 17 points and Qi chipped in 12 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. The trio combined for 32 of the team's 41 points in the second half.  Guy Landry Edi picked up 10 points to lead Cote d'Ivoire.

Turning Point: With the lead at just 38-37 midway through the third quarter, China took control of the game with an 11-2 run as they scored four of their five baskets on layups. The surge extended out to 18-5 spanning the final two quarters and the gap was 56-42 with 7 minutes left. The Elephants could not get closer than 9 points the rest of the way. 

TCL Player of the Game: Guo was strong throughout the game but really stepped up when China needed it most. He had two layups and an assist in the game deciding 11-2 run late in the third quarter. All told, he ended up with 17 points, 9 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. 

Stats Don't Lie: China's defense frustrated Cote d'Ivoire to the tune of just 29 percent shooting from the field to go along with 21 turnovers - though the Africans did grab 19 offensive rebounds. But China made a white-hot 71 percent of their two-point shots in the second half.

Bottom Line: The home side China shook off first-game jitters and the pressure of expectations to get the victory. Li Nan's team will next face Poland on Monday, September 1 with the winner taking sole possession of first place in the group with two wins in two games. Cote d'Ivoire on the same day will face Venezuela and the victor will get their first victory.  

They said: "We put a lot of preparation for the World Cup group stage and tonight was a good effort overall. We got the win at home and obviously as you guys saw their intensity and physical style gave us some trouble. At the half we talked about our adjustments and made some defensive stops and got transition baskets. We think every game is a key game for us." - China head coach Li Nan

"We're very happy we got the win. We put a whole lot of preparation for this game especially Coach Li and the whole coaching staff. All the played did their job but the important thing is we played together tonight and everybody was happy for each other. We are happy to get our first victory but we need to focus on Poland now because as coach says one, it's game at a time." - China forward Zhai Xiaochuan

"We were efficient in the beginning and started well but in the end we started to move slow. We have to think positive and we need to go back to the drawing board and try to figure out how to win the next two games." - Cote d'Ivoire head coach Paolo Povia

"We came up short today, we tried to be aggressive. We knew they had some big men and fast guards. We tried to play our aggressive game and focused on defense but they came up with a good defense of their own in the third quarter. The tournament is not over for us we still have two games we have to focus and stay positive and try to win the next two games." - Cote d'Ivoire center Mohamed Kone

FIBA