Basket: Argentina beat China to win Stankovic Cup

BEIJING - Argentina won basketball's Stankovic Cup tournament in Guangzhou on Tuesday, beating China 61-44 in the final with the hosts scoring their second-lowest total ever.

Pablo Espinoza led the scoring for Argentina - who won all three of their games in the group stage - with 14 points, while Selem Safar contributed another 11.

China's star player Yi Jianlian overcame injury to contribute half his team's points in the final.

Yi, a former NBA player and China's Olympic flag-bearer in London last year, was the only team member to reach double digits.

The tournament in the southern Chinese city was China's first under new Greek coach Panagiotis Giannakis.

"We're still building our team, so mistakes are inevitable," he said after an earlier 66-58 loss to Argentina in a round-robin match on Sunday, the official Xinhua news agency reported at the time.

China are warming up to defend their FIBA Asia Championship title next month in Manila, where three spots will be available for next year's FIBA World Cup.