Basketball: UCLA Win In China Following Arrest Of Trio

Basketball: UCLA win in China following arrest of trio

UCLA triumphed in their season-opener in China on Saturday despite missing three young stars over allegations of shoplifting, amid reports the team are set to fly home without them

Shanghai, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Nov, 2017 ) :UCLA triumphed in their season-opener in China on Saturday despite missing three young stars over allegations of shoplifting, amid reports the team are set to fly home without them.

UCLA defeated Georgia Tech 63-60 in Shanghai but speculation rumbles on about the fate of LiAngelo Ball, the younger brother of Los Angeles Lakers star Lonzo Ball, and team-mates Cody Riley and Jalen Hill.

The trio were reportedly arrested on Tuesday after around 20 police officers swooped on their hotel in Hangzhou, near Shanghai, where the team had visited the headquarters of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, a sponsor of the game.

The players were arrested on suspicion of stealing from a Louis Vuitton store and later freed on bail, ESPN reported. Speaking just before Saturday's game, Larry Scott, commissioner of the Pacific-12 Conference (PAC-12), said that the "incident" was being investigated in Hangzhou.

"It has provided a real distraction and unwanted publicity which distracts from what overall has been a tremendous experience and a tremendous week for the UCLA and Georgia Tech students," said Scott.

"We've had a chance to apologise for the unwelcome attention it has brought. "There's no new news: we're monitoring the situation and staying in close contact with the students and we hope the situation resolves itself soon.

" Steve Alford, coach of UCLA Bruins, declined to say if the three would be on the plane back to the United States with the rest of the team.

"We just move on," was all he would say on the matter. But ESPN, citing multiple sources, said that the three will remain in Hangzhou pending further enquiries. Chinese authorities have declined to comment, but shoplifting can bring a prison term of several years in China.

LiAngelo Ball is one of three basketball-playing siblings who have emerged on the national stage in the US in recent years, fuelled in part by father LaVar's aggressive promotion of his sons as future NBA superstars.

After seeing his team hold on for victory, Alford said it had been an enjoyable week in China nevertheless. "The people have been tremendous, we have been able to be here for a week and be in two different cities in China," he said.

"The people have been just outstanding and we knew coming over that the people of China really enjoy basketball, and good basketball, and I thought they got that today." PAC-12 separately said that, despite the problems in Hangzhou, it will return to China again next year with University of California, Berkeley playing Yale.