China beat Australia's NBL United 89-77 in International Basketball Challenge

The Chinese men's national team beat Australia's NBL United 89-77 in the first stop of the 2019 International Basketball Challenge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong province on Wednesday night.

It's the first match for the Chinese team in 2019 as they are tuning up for the World Cup this year.

Fang Shuo scored five points to help the hosts lead 7-3 into the game before the guests replied with a 7-0 run to overturn the score.

China’s Wang Zhelin takes a lay-up during the International Basketball Challenge game against Australia’s NBL United in Qingdao on Jun 19, 2019. [Photo: IC]

China led the first half 47-39 and enlarged their advantage to double figures in the last quarter en route to their victory.

Wang Zhelin dominated the paint to score a game-high 31 points and Fang added 20. Four visiting players scored double digits, with Johnson leading them with 20 points.

The Australian team was led by Josh Boone, the former NBA player, together with Adelaide 36ers Ramone Moore and American free agent Demitrius Conger.

The next two games will be played in Nantong and Changzhou, Jiangsu Province on Friday and Sunday.