By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
The South Korean basketball team beat China 70-62 Thursday in its opening game of Group A at the East Asia Basketball Association Championship in Nagoya, Japan.
SK Knights forward Kim Min-soo scored a team-high 17 points and points guard Joo Hee-jung added 13 points to lift head coach Huh Jae's side past the Asian basketball powerhouse.
Joo, the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP), also registered seven rebounds, four assists and three turnovers.
This is the first time Korea has claimed a win over China since the Busan Asian Games in 2002, when the home side rallied to win a gold medal in the final game.
China, which finished eighth at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, did not include Houston Rockets center Yao Ming and other NBA players, such as Yi Jianlian of the Milwaukee Bucks and Sun Yue of the Los Angeles Lakers.
In the six-team tournament, the top two team will be promoted to the FIBA Asia Championship in Tanjin, China in August.
Korea will play Hong Kong in another qualifier Friday.