Britain win first ever Games basketball game

Kieron Achara scored a game-high 16 points and Britain won a basketball game for the first time in Olympic history on Monday by defeating China 90-58 in a men's preliminary round matchup. Both teams had already been eliminated from any chance of reaching the medal playoffs. It was the first basketball victory of any sort for Britain after the women went winless through the preliminary round and the men went winless in 1948, including a 54-25 loss to China, as well as their first four games this time. The British (1-4) entered the Olympics ranked 43rd in the world while China (0-5) was rated 10th. China's winless finish was a significant stumble for a team that reached the last eight in three of the past four Olympic tournaments but now lacks the size and skill of retired NBA 2.29m star centre Yao Ming. The only other time the Chinese went winless in Olympic men's basketball was at Barcelona in 1992. China jumped ahead 7-0, then fell behind on a 22-5 British run. The Olympic hosts seized their largest first-half lead, 46-31, at half-time, and stretched the margin to 72-48 entering the fourth quarter.