HANGZHOU, China (AFP) - African basketball champions Angola used their speed on the second day of the Stankovic Cup on Saturday to beat China 72-71 and sour giant centre Yao Ming's comeback ahead of next month's Beijing Olympics.
Despite a brave rally back from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit, China's hopes fizzled out in the end when Yao failed to put back an offence rebound off a missed shot as time expired.
The towering NBA All Star scored 16 points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes of action during the game, his second since coming back from a broken foot suffered in a match with the Houston Rockets in February.
Power forward Joaquim Gomes was the hero for the visitors, scoring his team's last five points, including the winning basket with 31 seconds left, while also anchoring a swarming Angolan defence that kept China's big men in check for much of the game.
"This was a very difficult game. China's advantage is in its height, our advantage is in our speed," said Angola coach Alberto Carvalho.
"This was a hard-fought game, we were lucky, we are very happy to win here."
At the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics the two teams will be grouped together in Group B with powerhouses the United States, and Spain. They will also play another warm-up match later this month.
Angola led from the start and held a 65-51 lead with just under six minutes left behind the hot shooting of playmaking guard Carlos Morais, who finished with 20 points, hitting four of five three-pointers.
China's fourth-quarter comeback was spurred by forward Zhu Fangyu, who scored nine points in the quarter and 11 for the game. New Jersey Net power forward Yi Jianlian led China in both scoring and rebounding with 18 points and 11 boards.
"We didn't play well, we had too much hesitation both inside and outside, we also made too many mistakes and our outside shooting was very bad," China's Lithuanian coach Jonas Kazlauskas said.
"Only in the last six minutes we played like a team and showed the kind of basketball we can play and the kind we want to play."
Yao only began practising with the national team at the beginning of July and doctors have wanted to limit his play in the ongoing Stankovic Cup -- a warm-up tournament for the Olympic Games -- to 15 minutes per match.
The multi-millionaire basketball star scored 11 points and had four rebounds in 12 minutes of play Thursday when China thrashed Serbia 96-72 in his first match back with the national side.
China played Saturday's game without top point guard Liu Wei and veteran three-point specialist Du Feng, both out with injury.
Angola jumped out to an 11-2 lead before the hosts came back to within 15-12. When Yao entered the game late in the first period he scored two quick baskets and sank a free throw as the two sides ended the quarter tied at 19-19.
In the second quarter Angola's quick defence smothered Yao in the paint, forcing the big man to pass to his open teammates, who could not hit their outside shots, making only one of 13 three-point attempts in the first half.
China finished seven for 25 in three-point shooting for the night, while Angola made 12 of 19.
In the late game, Serbia overcame an 11-point first-half deficit to disaaaaa rival Russia 99-85, with both sides sending their youth teams to the tournament.
The Serbs were led by Marko Keselj with 27 points, and Milan Macvan and Miroslav Raduljica both with 18 points. Russian point guard Pavel Sergeev led the losers with 22 points.
On Sunday's final day, Angola can win the tournament by beating Serbia, while China can secure second place by beating Russia.