Centres Jose Marcos Silva and Leandro Mirando led Brazil's scoring momentum as they defeated South Africa 68-46 in the Paralympic men's wheelchair basketball classification play-off game for 9th-10th place on Tuesday at the National Indoor Stadium.

Silva and Mirando combined for 35 points during the game in which Brazil scored 54 points in the paint, 28 second-chance points, and 18 points from South Africa's 32 turnovers.

"It was not an easy victory for us. I feel fantastic," said Brazilian coach Luiz Silva.

"We have better controlled our rhythm. We gained more experience, which is the most important thing. I think we played eighty percent of what we expected."

Earlier in the tournament, Brazil finished 1-4 in the group preliminaries and defeated European Champions Sweden in the classification game for 9th-12 place.

Forward Richard Nortje tied Silva for the most 18 points scored in the game, and also had his team's most rebounds and steals.

South Africa finished 1-4 in the group A preliminaries and beat China in the classification game for 9th-12 place.

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2008)