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KAYSERI, Turkey: Australia racked up a vital 76-55 win over Angola to guarantee their second round spot at the world basketball championships on Thursday.
Australia now have eight points from their five Pool A games, with table-toppers Argentina (also eight) playing third-placed Serbia (seven) later on.
Angola could have guaranteed their place in the second round with a win here, but should Germany beat Jordan it will come down to points difference for fourth place in the pool.
The Angolans started brightly and quickly pulled ahead by seven points, forcing Australian coach Brett Brown to call an early time out.
That proved to be the wake-up call Australia needed as they began to compete with the Angolans to be down by just 3 points, 18-15, at the end of the quarter.
Their revival continued into the second quarter, with Matthew Nielson proving a real handful for the Angolans.
Nielson went into half-time leading Australia in points (7), assists (3) and rebounds (6).
The tempo Australia had been building going into the break did not falter after half time, with Australia's bench players seamlessly taking over, as Patrick Mills and Nielson rested early in the third.
By the end of the quarter, Australia looked like they might post a similar result to that against Germany, having raced away to 60-38.
But Angola fought back to win the final quarter 17-16.
Mills was the best of the Australians, as the only player on his roster to break into double figures, finishing with 11 points. Nielsen finished with 9 points, 6 assists and 7 rebounds.
Vladimar Jeronimo was the best of the Angolans with 9 points.
World basketball championship results on Thursday:
Group A
Angola 55 Australia 76
Argentina 82 Serbia 84
Germany 91 Jordan 73
Group B
USA 92 Tunisia 57
Slovenia 65 Iran 60
Brazil 92 Croatia 74
Group C
Ivory Coast 88 Puerto Rico 79
Russia 73 Greece 69
Turkey 87 China 40
Group D
Spain 89 Canada 67
New Zealand 82 France 70
Lithuania 84 Lebanon 66
- AFP/de
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