The US eased past China 121-90 to lead five powerhouses recording big-margin wins on Sunday, the second day of the 2006 World Men's Basketball Championship.

 

The American team, consisting of NBA stars, were just stronger, quicker and sharper than the Asian champion. They jumped to a 32-17 lead after the first quarter and improved to 63-38 at the half time.

 

Wang Shipeng had eight points in a row and Yao Ming added two in the opening of the third quarter to cut their deficit to 63-48, only to see the US surge away again with a 25-8 run.

 

"I am impressed with the courage China showed in the game," said the US head coach Mike Krzyzewski. "We played good defense tonight, but China still made a lot of three-pointers."

 

Dwayne Wade came from the bench to score 26 points for the US while Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard added 16 apiece. Lebron James, Chris Paul, Joe Johnson and Elton Brand also scored in double digits.

 

Yao contributed 21 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks for China before fouled out halfway in the fourth quarter. Wang Shipeng finished with 16 points.

 

Former NBA player Wang Zhizhi replaced Yi Jianlian to start for China, but he just had two points in 12 minutes.

 

"We had great expectation of him, we supported him and put him in the starting line-up, but he was not in shape," said China's head coach Jonas Kazlauskas. "It's like we got one finger broken out the 10 we have."

 

Yi came from the bench to record 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

 

The US had 23 steals while the Chinese made 25 turnovers.

 

Earlier on Sunday, Olympic silver medalist Italy rallied past Group D opponent Slovenia 80-76 for its second straight victory at the 24-team tournament.

 

Italian Stefano Belinelli had a game-high 26 points, but it was Matteo Soragna who scored all his nine points late in the fourth quarter to lead his teammates to a 14-5 run that concluded the hardly contested match.

 

Slovenia, the 96-79 winner over Senegal on Saturday, held a 71-66 lead with less than four minutes remaining. But then Soragna made a short jumper and a three-pointer to spark a 10-0 burst for Italy that overtook the lead at 76-71.

 

Jaka Lakovic nailed a three-pointer with 50 seconds to go to pull it within 76-74, but Soragna had a basket 22 seconds later and made two from the line 16 seconds from the end to seal the victory for the Italians.

 

Gianluca Basile, who had 27 points in Italy's 84-69 win over China on Saturday, was held to five points, while Denis Marconna added nine points and 11 rebounds.

 

Radoslav Nesterovic led Slovenia with 17 points and eight rebounds and Jaka Lakovic contributed 14 points.

 

Puerto Rico beat Senegal 88-79 in the other Group D clash.

 

Olympic champion Argentina and Brazil, Germany, Spain also collected big wins on Sunday.

 

Argentina trounced Lebanon 107-72 in Group A, where France defeated defending world champion Serbia and Montenegro 65-61. In Group B, Spain thrashed Panama 101-57 as Germany sailed past New Zealand 80-56.

 

Brazil overwhelmed Qatar 97-66 in Group C for its first win at this World Championship. In the same group, Greece outlasted Lithuania 81-76 in overtime and Turkey came from behind to beat Australia 76-68.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2006)