YONGCHENG, China (2012 London Olympics): Zhang Zhaoxu came into the Chinese party as the home team opened the second leg of the four-nation Sino-European friendly tournament with a 79-71 win against the Montenegrin U20 team on Wednesday.

China, who had won all three games of the first leg at Kunshan last week, next play Croatia on Thursday as coach Bob Donewald goes about his task of trying of various combinations preparing the reigning FIBA Asia Championship winners in their preparation for the 2012 London Olympics.

It was in this context that Zhang Zhaoxu’s (pic above) show on Wednesday must have warmed the cockles of Donewald’s heart.

The 25-year-old Shanghai Sharks center known as ‘Max Zhang’ given his 221-cm height went 4/5 in field shooting for his 15 points and also grabbed 4 rebounds to add to Donewald’s options.

Wang Shipeng was China’s highest scorer for the night with 17 points, including 5 conversions from beyond the arc.

Zhou Peng had 14 points and 4 rebounds, while Zhu Fangyu was perfect in his three three-pointer attempts. Sun Yue dished out 6 assists and hauled down 7 rebounds and Su Wei had 6 rebounds and as many blocks.

“We won again,” Donewald said.

“Max was healthy so got some good minutes, so did Su Wei. Wang Zhelin hurt his finger during the game so did not play as much as we hoped,” he added.

FIBA Asia