Yao Ming scored only 9 points and China suffered its third loss in a Group A match against Italy at Athens Olympics men's basketball preliminary competitions.

Italy trounced China 89-52 to make 2-2 in the group to enter the quarterfinal, and China suffered the most disastrous loss since the tournament began.

"There isn't much to say about the game. We were simply overwhelmed. We were not able to pass, catch, form our offense or defense." said head coach of China Del Harris.

Giacomo Galanda put on a shooting display with six three-points and led the game with 24 points. Michele Mian and Gianmarco Pozzecco both chipped in 10 points, while none of the Chinese players could scored a double figure.

"We tried to avoid passes to Yao Ming. My players understood our philosophy and played well in defense." said Carlo Recalcati, head coach of Italy.

The Rocket's center Yao displayed a surprising low form, contributing 9 points and 6 rebounds in 28 minutes, which is his lowest in four games.

"The game was quite successful for us. It went just the way we excepted. We want to keep Yao Ming under control as he is one of the strongest players in this tournament, and we did." said point guard of Italy Massimo Bulleri, who had 3 points and 3 assists in 14 minutes.

Roberto Chiacig scored all his 14 points in the first half to make Italy lead the game at the first quarter by 22-11 and did not give the rival any chance to surpass after that.

Italy launched a 14-5 run in the second half to lead into the second half 44-26.

Comparing Italy's 18-29 in the field goals, China made only 7 of its 27 shots and had 11 turnovers in the first two quarters.

Italians continued their attacking show in the second half, extending their lead to 21 points after the third quarter. Luca Garri and Gianluca Basile combined a pair of three-pointers to finish a 9-1 run in the last two minute of the third quarter.

China tried to stay in the game with its outside shooting, but 14 of 53 from the field could do nothing but let Italian add their rebound numbers.

Harris, who coached China at June, dispelled the saying that the short time caused China bad performance in the tournament.

"Actually the players started with Jonas Kazlauskas from March. It would be enough if we had more experienced players. It will take not months, but years for China to catch up European or American teams."

"We had potential young players in the team, and I think we have four years of time to prepare for the Beijing games." said Harris.

After the loss, China must defeat world champion Serbia and Montenegro on Monday to earn a quarterfinal berth.