Serbia and Montenegro beat Russia 85-76 in an all-European men's basketball final to defend their title at the 22nd World University Games on Sunday.

China, the sole Asian team in the semifinals, conceded the bronze after losing 80-82 to Canada.

In a hard-won final showdown, Serbia and Montenegro led by onlyone point into the second quarter, in which Russia kept a firm grip with a 16-16 run.

The SCG cagers dominated the third quarter and survived a late rally from their persistent rivals before sealing the victory 85-76 at the whistle.

Branko Jorovic scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed four rebounds for the SCG squad. Bojan Popovic and Mladen Pantic each added 14 points and four rebounds.

Konstantin Nesterov of Russia also shone on court with 17 points and seven rebounds. Andrey Vachmianin added 11.

In a total of 19 men's basketball teams competing at the Universiade, all the five sides from Asia except China fell out ofthe top 13.

China were edged off the podium with a margin of only two points in Sunday's tough battle against the opponents from North America.

After leading 19-16 in the first quarter, China abruptly went out of gear in the second, hitting only 15 points compared to Canada's 28. They recovered after half time but finally failed to make up for the gap.

The Chinese side, however, are satisfied with the position where they are.

"We have tried out best and Canada deserves the bronze," Zhang Yongjun, head coach of China, said after the match.

Chinese team leader Li Yuanwei shared the opinion and said the result was already beyond their anticipation at the Universiade," Li said.

Tang Zhengdong contributed a team-high 17 points and 12 rebounds. Zhao Hongxiang added 16 points.

Canadian Vidal Massiah had 19 points to lead the team. Jeff Ferguson added 18 points and 10 rebounds.

China ended up fourth while South Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei took the 14th to 16th places in a row.

Hong Kong of China was 18th, the second from the bottom, thanksto Kazakhstan's default in an advance match scheduled on Friday.

Kazakhstan finished the tailender on the standings.