China kept its hope into the last 16 alive with its first victory of the tournament, beating Senegal 100-87 on Wednesday in a Group D match of the World Men's Basketball Championships.

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming led again China by 26 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, while former Miami Heat forward Wang Zhizhi played out his best game so far with 19 points and nine rebounds.

Five Chinese players scored double figures and the Chinese shot 20-33 in the field, their best shooting game in the tournament.

Senegal led 68-66 until the late in the third quarter and kept it a close game by trailing 84-80 midway in the fourth, but let loose of the game when China made a 10-0 run for a lead 97-80 with seconds to go.

China need another victory over Slovenia, who beat Puerto Rico 90-82, to advance from Group D.

The United States had secured the No.1 place of the group with a 94-85 win over Italy behind Carmelo Anthony's 35 points.

Anthony, who averaged 17 points in just over 20 minutes in the past three games, shot 8-11 in the field and 5-7 on 3-pointers in 34:32 minutes. Dwyane Wade contributed 26 points.

In Group C, European champion Greece nailed down its fourth consecutive victory by defeating Brazil 86-77.

Greece will vie for the top place against Turkey, who disposed of Qatar 76-69, on the last day of preliminary round on Thursday.

It was also Brazil's third loss in the tournament and the South American champion was just ahead of the winless Qatar in the six-team bracket. The top four teams will enter the knock-out round.

Brazil is to have a win-or-die match against Lithuania, who was 2-2 with a 78-57 win over Australia.

Spain cracked down Angola 93-83 to grab the top place in Group B, while Germany took the second place with a 81-63 thrash of Panama when Dirk Nowitzki had 25 points and 13 rebounds.

Pero Cameron, who shot 5-11 on 3-pointers to finish with 23 points, buried a game-winning 3-pointer to turn the table around in New Zealand's 60-57 triumph over Japan.

Japan squandered a 18-point lead of the first half as it collapsed 24-9 in the four quarter in Hiroshima.

In Group A, Fadi Khatib led Lebanon with 29 points to the biggest surprise of the day by ousting France 74-73.

Lebanon capitalized a 11-0 run to call the first half 43-30 and held on for the win when France was 3-out-of-26 from behind the arc.

The high-flying Argentina captured the leading position by overwhelming Nigeria 98-64 in the group, while Serbia & Montenegro crushed Venezuela 90-65.

Source: Xinhua