THE world’s youngest nation now has a FIBA World Cup win next to its name, after South Sudan downed China on Monday night of the 2023 tournament.

As a country, South Sudan has only been around for 12 years, but overcame a Team Dragon side that can be dangerous at times to record a powerful 20-point win on day four of the World Cup.

The Bright Stars came into the tournament ranked 62nd, behind only Cape Verde in the Men’s World Rankings (coincidentally, Cape Verde also claimed their first ever win last night as well). Although China is not considered one of the powerhouse sides of the tournament (ranked 27th in the world), it still entered the game as favourites.

However, South Sudan stormed out of the gates, taking the lead in the early stages of the first quarter thanks to some tough makes and getting out to a significant scoreboard advantage. The Bright Stars headed into quarter time up by eight points and in control of the match on both ends.

Team Dragon got going offensively in the second term, moving the ball much better and overcoming South Sudan’s tough defensive structure. China halted all of the opposition’s momentum heading into half time, and cut the deficit down to four points, setting up an exciting final two quarters of the match and keeping its season alive in the process.

China cooled down in the third quarter, as the Bright Stars made defensive adjustments at half time to stop the opposition from getting such easy looks. It resulted in wayward shots and sloppy turnovers and while South Sudan could not return to the offensive heights of the first quarter, it still entered the last break up by 10 points.

The fourth quarter was saw South Sudan slam the door shut on any sort of a comeback, putting the foot down to completely put the game to bed, en route to a 20-point triumph, ending China’s campaign as a result.

Carik Jones was exceptional at leading South Sudan’s offence, finishing the match with 21 points and six assists, boosted by 3/4 shooting from behind the arc. Kaier Li (also known as Kyle Anderson in the NBA) top-scored for China in the loss, producing 22 points on 8/16 shooting from the field.

In the other results for the day, Cape Verde made history when it downed Venezuela by six points, while New Zealand defeated Jordan by eight. Cote d’Ivoire outlasted Iran in a two-point thriller, Luka Doncic led Slovenia past Georgia to the tune of 21 points, and Serbia downed Puerto Rico in convincing fashion. The United States continued their dominance with a 28-point drubbing of Greece, while Spain did the same by defeating Brazil by 18 points.