Canada rout China 109-79 to reach OQT Semi-Finals

VICTORIA (Canada) - Game 1 wasn't so easy; Game 2 looked like a breeze.

Canada dominated China from the opening tip and improved to 2-0 at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a 109-79 win Wednesday. The hosts made this one look easy after being challenged in Tuesday's 97-91 win against Greece.

With the win, Canada moved through to the tournament Semi-Finals.

Turning point: The third quarter. China missed eight straight shots and went 3:28 without scoring during one stretch in the frame, allowing Canada's lead to balloon to 23 points. It was a 13-point game at halftime.

Game hero: Andrew Wiggins. The former No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick dialed up his second straight 20-plus-point performance on 5-of-9 shooting and was 7-for-7 at the free-throw line. In contention: Dwight Powell nearly posted a double-double with 12 points and 9 rebounds, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (11 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists) was a team-best plus-30. China's Mingxuan Hu led all players with 24 points.

Stats don't lie: Canada scored 20 points off of 15 China turnovers and turned 20 offensive rebounds into 30 second-chance points. The hosts owned the backboards (55-37) and dished out 30 assists on 36 made field goals.

Bottom line: Canada has more height, better shooters and is the superior team. China made their runs, but never seriously threatened Canada's lead. The hosts led by double digits from the 9:07 mark of the second quarter through the end of the game.

They said: "China came out like we expected, running and playing hard and playing lots of defenses. ... We also expected them to make some shots and make runs and they made a couple of them at us, but in the end we challenged the shooters enough and limited them to one shot enough and our offense was pretty good tonight." - Canada coach Nick Nurse

"When you play together, the game comes easy. When you're in a good rhythm, everyone's going to get after it offensively, defensively. We have a lot of unselfish guys. We all want to see each other win, do good, and out there, we're just trying to play aggressive, play to win, play the right way. I feel like if we keep playing that way, keep playing together, then the sky is the limit for us." - Canada's Andrew Wiggins

FIBA