GUANGZHOU, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- China lost 84-77 to New Zealand in a men's basketball warm-up game for the FIBA World Cup qualifiers held in Shunde, south China's Guangdong Province on Monday, with the host out-rebounded by the Tall Blacks.

New Zealand, also preparing for the second phase of the FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifiers, currently sits fourth in Group E with a 4-2 record. However, the team brought only 11 players to China, with forward Jordan Ngatai the only player in the squad to have appeared during the first three windows of the qualifiers.

China had three players score in double figures, with Liao Sanning leading the team with 17 points. Jiao Boqiao and Hu Jinqiu added 14 and 13 points, respectively. For New Zealand, Corey Webster scored 17 points, while James Moors recorded a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

China's head coach Guo Shiqiang said after the game that rebounding was one of the main reasons for the defeat. China was out-rebounded 47-32, including allowing New Zealand to grab 18 offensive rebounds.

China also struggled to contain New Zealand's 36-year-old Webster, who was his team's leading scorer at the 2014 and 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cups.

"The opponents played with full intensity tonight and never let up during the 40 minutes. We gained a lot from this game and need to review it carefully and prepare with full effort for the next two (qualifier) games," said China's center Hu Jinqiu.

New Zealand forward Ngatai said after the game that the young squad had only finalized its roster five days earlier and had held just four or five training sessions together.

"I'm proud of the young players on the team. They played very well tonight. I think about three players from this team will make the national team roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers," Ngatai told Xinhua.

China finished its warm-up series with one win and two losses and will resume its World Cup qualifying campaign later this month. China will visit Qatar on August 27 before hosting Lebanon on Aug. 31.

"All three opponents in the warm-up games played with very high intensity, and our players may be feeling some fatigue. We need to take the next two World Cup qualifying matches step by step," Guo said.

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