ESP - Garbajosa, Spain roll past China in Cordoba friendly

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CORDOBA (FIBA World Championship) - Spain thrashed China 96-49 in Cordoba on Wednesday night in a friendly ahead of next month's FIBA World Championship in Japan.

The game, played before 4,500 spectators in the Palacio Municipal Vistalegre, was effectively over by the end of the first quarter when Spain led 25-11. By half-time, the advantage had ballooned to 50-23.

Jorge Garbajosa, having this week clinched a move to the Toronto Raptors from Unicaja Malaga, led Spain with 18 points.

The power forward buried four of the 12 three-pointers made by Spain in the game. He missed on three of his long-range attempts, while Juan Carlos Navarro nailed three of five from the arc and finished with 13 points.

Felipe Reyes had 16 points and Pau Gasol, back with the national side after being forced to sit out last year's EuroBasket in a bid to get over a nagging foot injury, had 10 points and nine rebounds.

His younger brother, Marc Gasol, is attempting to win a place in the team left open by Fran Vazquez's withdrawal due to a back injury but in 10 minutes did not score while grabbing one rebound.

DKV Joventut's Alex Mumbru is coming off his finest season after helping his club side win the EuroCup. He walked off the court with 10 points for Spain. Mumbru was two of four from three-point range.

Spain are in Group B of the FIBA World Championship with Germany, Panama, Angola, New Zealand and Japan.

China are in Group D with the United States, Senegal, Puerto Rico, Italy and Slovenia.

Right now, the team has yet to add Yao Ming to the roster as he continues to recover from an injury suffered near the end of the NBA season with the Houston Rockets.

Wang Shipeng and Yi Jianlian each had 13 points in defeat.

Cindy Garcia-Bennett
PA Sport Exclusively for FIBA