CHN - Slovenia wins Stankovic Cup

MACAU (Stankovic Cup) - On the final day of the Continental Stankovic Cup in Macau, European stronghold Slovenia defeated the African champion Angola 78 - 51 to win the prestigious tournament in China.

The international invitational tournament assembles some of the best national teams from all five continents and is played in honor of the former FIBA Secretary General Borislav Stankovic.

Hosts China won over the NBA Development League team 82-67 to secure the second place and New Zealand defeated Venezuela 76-73.

Former NBA player Wang Zhizhi and draft picks Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue combined to score 59 of China's 82 points in its victory.

China coach Jonas Kazlauskas expressed satisfaction with the team performance at the tournament in which the Chinese won three of their five games. "We need these wins to boost the young players' confidence, " said Kazlauskas. 

He recognized that more training and matches are needed to improve the young players on the team.

"I thought my guys did a heck of a job," commented NBAD Ambassador head coach Larry Smith of his team's performance. "We had four days to prepare for this tournament. The kids played hard and I'm extremely proud of them."

Slovenia finished the tournament with a 4-1 record, whilst China (3-2) finished in second place on their home court, the NBAD (3-2) fini9shed in third place, Angola (3-2) finished in fourth place, and New Zealand (2-3) and Venezuela (0-5) finished in fifth and sixth places, respectively.

Reeling from their embarrassing performance against hosts China the previous night, the NZ Tall Blacks put their shame behind them to edge old rivals Venezuela 76-73 and avoid the wooden spoon at the tournament.

With shooters Kirk Penney and Phill Jones (13 points, 0/5 3pt v China) back on song, the Kiwis surged through the latter stages of the opening period, building a 13-point lead early in the second and leading 59-50 at halftime.

They had to survive a late rally by the South Americans, who had two desperate three-point attempts in the dying seconds to force overtime.

"I was really worried how the boys were going to take the loss we had yesterday," admitted coach Nenad Vucinic. It was a very, very tough loss to handle, but they came out in high spirits and played well."

"It wasn't the greatest win, but it was good to see the guys bounce back."

STANDINGS
Team                           W L
1. Slovenia                    4 1
2. China                        3 2
3. NBAD Ambassadors     3 2
4. Angola                      3 2
5. New Zealand              2 3
6. Venezuela                 0 5