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The successful blocking of the American Lonny Baxter’s sure shot by 2.25-meter center Yao Ming only 0.2 seconds to the finish dashed the Americans’ hope of making the finals.
China won the keenly contested match 83-82 before thousands of roaring crows at the Qinghua University Stadium at the 21st Universiade here this evening.
Yao, standing 2-25 meters, had 12 points, nine rebounds and five blocks.
The United States had 12 Universiade titles, kept a record of 46 wins before today’s match.
China will meet the winner of the Germany/Yugoslavia match for the title.
“All our preparations done are for the purpose of winning the match,” said Chinese head coach Wang Fei. “We encouraged our young players to buttress their confidence in overwhelming the opponents. In the field, we tried hard to concentrate on the inside and exert pressure in the outside.”
The US head coach Jerry Dunn said that “China has some extremely big guys and they did a good job in the inside game. They are fully prepared both mentally and physically. I’m disappointed at losing the game. The US always expects to win the title.”
China started energetically with an 11-0 lead when the American missed their first seven shots and Ely’s two free-throws.
The Americans came back strongly in the second quarter and took the first lead at 32-31 with 3 minutes to go and held on to the two-points lead at the break. The third quarter saw the two sides exchange lead several times before China pulled away at 69-66 at the end of the period.
The Americans scored three successive three-pointers to narrow the gap to 82-83 in the fourth quarter. But the last attempt by the US to win the match was foiled by Yao Ming’s excellent block.
In another semifinal match tonight, Yugoslavia beat Germany 78-77.
The Yugoslav team led 24-21 in the first quarter. Taking advantage of the rashness of the German team in the second period, the Yugoslav team enlarged the gap to 11 points by fast breaks. But the Germans rallied strongly and outscored the Yugoslavians 41-39 at the end of the first half. In the keenly contested third quarter, the Yugoslavians outwitted the Germans and took back the lead to end the period at 61-57. In the last period, the two teams exchanged lead several times before the Yugoslavians pulled away with a one-point lead to end the match.
The German coach Bernd Roder said that it was a close game, with no team in front of the other. “Yugoslav team played quite well and we, too, displayed our form,” he said.
The Yugoslav coach Baletic Miodrag said that he had expected the result. “The Germans played very hard and well and so did we. But we are a bit luckier,” he said.
China will meet Yugolavia for the title tomorrow while the United States will take up Germany for the third place.
(Xinhua News Agency 08/31/2001)
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