United States' players (left to right: LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony) celebrate after defeating Senegal during the first round of the World Basketball Championships, in Sapporo, yesterday. The U.S. went through the group stage undefeated and now face Australia, on Sunday. - Reuters

SAPPORO, Japan (Reuters):

THE UNITED States pummelled Senegal to join Argentina, Spain and Greece with a 5-0 record at the completion of the round-robin stage of the World Basketball Championship, yesterday.

Meanwhile, China squeezed into the last 16 after a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Wang Shipeng gave them a dramatic 78-77 win over Slovenia.

Chris Bosh led the U.S. with 20 points as the tournament favourites overpowered Senegal 103-58 despite giving significant rest to their big-name starters in Sapporo.

Olympic silver medallists, Italy, finished runners-up behind the U.S. in Group D with a 4-1 record after a 73-72 victory over Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico finished at 2-3 and were eliminated along with winless Senegal.

Wild scenes

China's qualification for the last 16 owed much to Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming's 36 points before Wang's last-gasp three led to wild scenes on the Chinese bench.

"My teammates mobbed me after the buzzer," a tearful Wang told reporters. "Yao Ming was the first one to hug me. I felt so happy."

Yao was just as emotional after sparking China's unlikely comeback from a 0-3 record.

"We found the oasis," said the 7' 5" centre. "It was luck, courage and belief that got us through. Wang's shot was straight out of the NBA. It was amazing."

Luis Scola led Argentina with 22 points as the Olympic gold medallists edged out Serbia & Montenegro 83-79 to preserve their unblemished record.

Serbia & Montenegro, the defending world champions, crept into the knockout stage despite suffering their third loss of the tournament.

France cruised to a 81-61 win over Venezuela (1-4) to finish behind Argentina on three wins, while the South Americans missed the cut along with Lebanon.

Lebanon's brave battle against the odds came to an end following a 95-72 defeat by Nigeria, despite both teams finishing with a 2-3 record.

Nowitzki exploded

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki exploded for a tournament-high 47 points to lead Germany to a 108-103 triple overtime win over Angola in Group B.

Germany clinched second spot at 4-1 behind unbeaten Spain with African champions Angola third on 3-2.

Spain destroyed Japan 104-55 to stay perfect while the tournament hosts bowed out with a 1-4 record.

New Zealand clinched a place in the knockout phase with an 86-75 win over a Panama team that failed to win a single game. The Tall Blacks finished on 2-3.

European champions, Greece, held off a determined challenge from Turkey in a 76-69 victory that left them top of Group C with a 5-0 record.

Turkey finished runners-up on 4-1, while Australia and Lithuania also survived the cut at the expense of Brazil (1-4) and Qatar (0-5).

Australia overwhelmed Qatar 93-46, while Lithuania silenced Brazil's samba beat with a 79-74 victory that sent the three-time Olympic bronze medallists through with a 3-2 mark.

The knockout stage begins in Saitama tomorrow with the final on September 3.