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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The battle of the last winless men's basketball teams in Group A went down to the wire as Venezuela squeaked past China 72-68 Wednesday night to take another step toward advancing.
The Chinese (0-3) are now unlikely to qualify for the next round.
Venezuela power forward Nestor Colmenares made the two plays of the game down the stretch. He took a charge with 38.4 seconds remaining and Venezuela holding a one-point lead. After forcing the turnover, he hit a floater over the outstretched arm of 6-foot-11 Yi Jianlian with 15.8 seconds left to seal the win.
Colmenares led the team with 16 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Venezuela (1-2) opened the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run, including a pair of jumpers from Anthony Perez, to take a 58-52 lead. China got within one in the final period but never led.
Yi Jianlian scored a game-high 18 for China.
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