Venezuela earn first win, hand China third loss

RIO DE JANEIRO (Rio 2016 Olympic Games) - Venezuela claimed their first win of the Olympic Basketball Tournament by beating China, 72-68, on Wednesday night.

The Americas champions led by as many as 15 in the first half but the Asian champions rallied after the break as the game went down to the wire.

Venezuela jumped to a 16-6 on a pair of Gregory Vargas free-throws midway through the first quarter and extended it to 25-13 by the end of the period.

China went on a 16-4 run to tie the game at 29 with 4:08 left in the first half and Venezuela headed into the locker room at the break with a 38-35 edge.

Nestor 'Che' Garcia's charges went up 51-44 as John Cox knocked down a three-pointer with 2:19 to go in the third quarter but again China fought back and were within one, 51-50, as Zhou Qi scored in the dying seconds of the period.

Venezuela stretched their advantage back up to seven on another three-pointer - this time courtesy of Anthony Perez - with 5:28 left to play. 

Zhou scored two big baskets down the stretch, the latter one getting China within 64-63 with 1:22 to go. Nestor Colmenares scored the last basket of the game when he floated a shot over the outstretched arm of Yi Jianlian for a 66-63 advantage with 15.8 seconds. The contest then turned into a free-throw shooting procession and Venezuela did enough to hold on.

Turning Point: With Venezuela up 70-66 and 3.8 seconds left, Colmenares fouled Zhou Peng on a three-point attempt and the Chinese forward made the first two but missed the third. Vargas grabbed the rebound, was fouled and hit both his foul shots for the final score.

Stats Don't Lie: China only led once in the entire game, edging in front 41-40 on Guo Ailun's basket at the 7:09 mark of the third quarter. 

Hero: Off the bench, Colmenares finished with a team-high 16 points on a very efficient 8-of-11 shooting, to go along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Gregory Vargas was also productive, contributing 13 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds.

Bottom Line: With a win under their belt, Venezuela will take more confidence into their last two Group A games against France on Friday and Australia on Sunday. China dropped to 0-3 to stand as the only team in the group without a win. Their task doesn't get any easier as they face a very impressive Australia side and Serbia to close out their group play.

FIBA