China used size, speed and 14 points from Dallas Maverick Yi Jianlian to outclass Australia 70-51 Tuesday to win the Stankovic Continental Cup, a warm-up tournament for the London Olympics.
Yi scored 10 first-half points and anchored a swarming Chinese defence as the hosts jumped to a 34-18 half-time lead and cruised to victory before a boisterous crowd in south China's Guangzhou city.
With the retirement of iconic centre Yao Ming, Yi will be China's best player in London as the team looks to improve on its eighth place finish at the 2008 Beijing Games, China's historic best result at an Olympics.
With the game well in hand, Yi sat out most of the third and fourth quarters, as did most of China's starters.
To win the Stankovic Cup, China easily beat African champions Tunisia, 2007 European champions Russia, and Australia, during the first round at the weekend.
Russia and Australia both sent second-tier teams to Guangzhou, facilitating China's easy win of the cup.
In the battle for third place Tunisia beat Russia 80-51.
In London, Russia, Australia and China will meet up again in group B play, which also includes Spain, Brazil and hosts Great Britain.
Tunisia finds itself in group A along with 2008 gold medalists the United States, Argentina, France, Nigeria and Lithuania.
