The Italians rode on a 12-2 spurt midway through the first period to pull into a double-digit lead. Going 59-28 up with 5:13 remaining in the third period, Italy were well beyond the striking distance for their African opponents.

China suffered from early foul trouble and made key-time errors, losing to Poland 79-76 after overtime and sending the rival side to top Group A.

Yi Jianlian had the team-high 24 points for China. Wang Zhelin and Zhou Qi added 10 points each. Poland's Mateusz Ponitka scored the game-high 25 points.

The host looked poised to win the tight game, up by one point with the ball and 4.2 seconds left. But Zhou Qi's inbounds pass turned out to be a turnover and gave the Polish side chance to go to overtime with free throws.

With 9.8 seconds left in the overtime thriller, China's Zhao Jiwei was unable to inbounds the ball for a five-second violation and Ponitka split two more free throws to decide the game.

"It's a tough game and our players did their best," said Li Nan, head coach of China.

Venezuela bounced back and took its first victory, winning 87-71 over Cote d'Ivoire in Group A. The Venezuela sharpshooter Heissler Guillent was 6 of 9 from 3-point range, pouring in the game-high 31 points.

Spain emerged as the sole secured side from Group C after a 12-0 spurt in the third quarter gifted the European powerhouse a 73-63 win over Puerto Rico.

In the group's other game on Monday, Tunisia toppled Iran 79-67 to keep their hope alive. Salah Mejri scored the game-high 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, while Michael Roll added 18 points for Tunisia.

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