The Chinese men's national basketball team defeated visitors Team American United in their recent friendly match after the hosts engineered a comeback to cut an 11-point deficit to claim their third consecutive victory 84-75 in Luoyang, China on Sunday.

Like Us on Facebook

The American team established a 30-20 lead after staging an 11-0 run in the second period of the match but the national team fought back while applying a tighter defense to finish the first half 37-35.

In the final quarter of the ballgame, former NBA player and reigning CBA's Domestic MVP, Yi Jianlian, led the Asian top squad as they secured a seven-point advantage over the Americans with an 8-0 run.

With just five minutes left on the clock, China, making the most of the momentum, started to pull away and wrapped up the victory with a huge slam-dunk from 23-year-old forward Zhai Xiaochuan.

Yi Jianlian finished the match with a game-high 23 points, followed by Zhai with 21 for the Asian team while Marcus Van contributed 15 points for the American side.

The friendly game was part of China's extensive preparation for the upcoming Rio Olympics. The Asian champions will head out on a busy tour, including work out matches in Italy, Stankovic Cup tournament in Beijing and two exhibition matches against the Team USA Men's Basketball squad in the United States before the Olympic Games in August.

"We are not afraid to lose these matches," said China's head coach, Gong Luming. "We need to find strong opponents to challenge ourselves."

In the last 2015 FIBA Asian Championship, China was able to conquer the continental basketball championship after defeating the Philippine national men's basketball team, which earned them an automatic spot in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

The national squad currently sits on the 14th place in the FIBA world rankings. China has already made nine appearances in the Olympic Games but has no medals to show for it.

Tagschinese basketball association, Team USA, Rio Olympics 2016, Yi Jianlian, Basketball, Team American United, china