China exit Basketball World Cup in first round as US cruise on

Photo courtesy of FIBA
Puerto Rico dumped China out of the Basketball World Cup on Wednesday, as the United States, Serbia, Spain and Luka Doncic's Slovenia advanced to the second round with perfect records.
Georgia, Brazil and Greece also made it past the group stage, as South Sudan and Cape Verde bowed out after impressive World Cup debuts.
China lost their first two matches and had to beat Puerto Rico in Manila and hope that the other result in the group went their way to stand any chance of progressing.
But they were outclassed from the start, slumping to a 107-89 defeat to tumble out of the tournament.
China still have the chance of a qualifying spot at the Paris Olympics to play for but head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic said his team would "have to be smarter".
"We have to learn that every possession is important, that every small thing is important," he said.
"We just gave too many second opportunities to the Puerto Rico team and they know how to handle the ball."
China, where basketball is a national obsession, will qualify for the Paris Games if they finish as the highest-placed Asian team at the World Cup.
Japan already have one win, while the Philippines, Jordan, Iran and Lebanon have none.
"This is a dogfight, and it's going to be like that tomorrow," said Djordjevic, whose team play Angola in the classification matches on Thursday.
"You have to keep your head cool and continue fighting for our goal. Tomorrow is a new game."
Puerto Rico went through as runners-up behind Serbia, who beat South Sudan 115-83.
South Sudan finished third in Group B and turned their attention towards claiming an Olympic berth.
"You win some, you lose some, but we will fight for another day," said head coach Royal Ivey.
