| |
| |
 |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
IZMIR, Turkey: China scraped into the second round of the world basketball championships on Thursday while Australia also made sure of their last 16 spot.
China slumped to a crushing 87-40 defeat to Turkey in their final Group C game, but still reached the next stage thanks to Puerto Rico.
Going into the final day of pool play, China, Puerto Rico and the Ivory Coast were all fighting for the final qualifying spot.
If the Ivory Coast were to take the final position they needed to beat Puerto Rico by 12 or more points.
With time running out it looked like the Africans had pulled it off, leading 88-76, but on the buzzer David Huertas hit a three-pointer to bring the margin back to nine points.
Against Turkey, China were struggling early in the contest, managing just six points in the opening quarter to be down 15-6.
The situation did not improve in the second quarter as Turkey continued to extend the gap with China only able to add another seven points to trail 39-13 at half-time.
Sun Yu was the top contributor for the Chinese with five points while Oguz Savaz led Turkey with 10 points.
Although China were able to pick up their scoring in the third quarter, it would make little difference as Turkey continued to surge ahead, leading 66-25 with a quarter left to play.
In the last quarter it was a case of the Chinese needing to put some respectability back into the scoreline, only for Turkey to pull further ahead, winning 87-40.
Yu finished the game as top-scorer for China, who face Lithuania in the last 16, with 15 points while Savaz led Turkey with 20 points.
Australia racked up a vital 76-55 win over Angola in Group A and will face Slovenia for a quarter-final spot.
Patrick Mills was the best of the Australians being the only player on his roster to break into double figures, finishing with 11 points. Matthew Nielsen finished with 9 points, 6 assists and 7 rebounds.
Serbia topped the group, knocking over previously unbeaten Argentina 84-82.
Dusko Savanovic top-scored for the Serbians with 19 points while Houston Rockets' Luis Scola was the best contributor for Argentina with 32.
LA Clippers' Eric Gordon scored 21 points to help the USA maintain their unbeaten record in group play as they beat Tunisia 92-57 to top Group B and set-up a last 16 meeting with Angola.
USA coach Mike Krzyzewski was keeping his feet on the ground despite the perfect record.
"We need to be ready for Angola because in the next stage, if we don't win, we don't win the world basketball championships," he said.
Slovenia took second spot, holding off a determined Iran 65-60, while Brazil claimed third spot from Slovakia by beating them 92-74.
Marcelinho Machado was the best of the Brazilians with 18 points.
In the other Group C game, Russia were able to claim second spot with a 73-69 victory over Greece.
Timofey Mozgov topped the scoring for Russia - who face New Zealand next - with 16 points.
In Group D, Canada will return home winless after falling 67-89 to Lithuania who go into the round of 16 unbeaten. Also returning home are Lebanon, going down 84-66 to Spain in their final game.
In the final game of group D, New Zealand were able to avoid facing Turkey in the next round by beating France 82-70 and finishing third.
Had the French been able to keep the deficit to 12 or less, they would have held onto third spot and avoided the home side.
"Playing Turkey in Turkey is a monumental task but playing an in-form and well-coached Russia is just as difficult," said New Zealand coach Nenad Vucenic.
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
|
