Canada Basketball's Senior Men's National Team took a big lead early and never looked back en route to a 95-69 exhibition game victory over China in Bologna, Italy, on Saturday.
Canada's starters were Anthony Bennett, Melvin Ejim, Tyler Ennis, Brady Heslip and Thomas Scrubb. The full SMNT preliminary roster is available at http://basketball.ca/en/news-article/2016-mens-national-team-camp-roster
Heslip erupted for 33 points in the win, going 12/19 from the field, including 6/10 on three-pointers, while Ejim notched 12 points along with nine rebounds and five assists, and Khem Birch came off the bench to grab a game-high 10 boards for Canada.Yi Jianlian led China with 22 points.
Team Canada sprinted out to a 12-4 lead and stretched the margin out to 23-8 after one quarter. Canada maintained its 15-point advantage, 46-31, at halftime and was ahead 67-51 entering the fourth quarter.
Rebounds were 36-31 in favour of Canada, which shot 51% on field goals and was 12/23 from the outside as a team.
The SMNT is now 2-1 on its European tour, which continues Sunday in Bologna. Follow @CanBBall on Twitter for updates.