FIBA World Cup Round of 16: Spain Blocks Senegal’s Run

Senegal had a nice run at the FIBA World Cup, advancing to the elimination stage of the tournament for the first time.

Host Spain put an emphatic end to that run in Madrid on Saturday, hammering Senegal 89-56 to set up a rematch with France in a quarterfinal on Wednesday.

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Spain (6-0) led 41-28 at halftime and continued to pull away, holding Senegal (2-4) to 35.6 percent shooting (21-for-59) while hitting 57.6 percent (34-for-59) of its shots.

Spain is one of three unbeaten teams left in the World Cup. The United States improved to 6-0 with a round of 16 win over Mexico on Saturday, while Greece will look for its sixth straight victory Sunday in a round of 16 meeting against Serbia.

It was a bit of a block party for the Spaniards—they blocked 13 shots in all, with Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies swatting four and Pau Gasol of the Chicago Bulls and Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder knocking away three each. Felipe Reyes, Ricky Rubio of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Sergio Llull also notched blocks.

Pau Gasol paced Spain with 17 points. Jose Calderon of the New York Knicks, Reyes and Ibaka had 11 points each, with Ibaka and Marc Gasol each pulling down six rebounds. Rubio finished with six assists and five steals to go with seven points and Rudy Fernandez had three steals and scored five points.

Mouhammad Faye and Abdou Badji scored 12 points each for Senegal, with Badji also corralling seven rebounds. Gorgui Dieng of the Minnesota Timberwolves also had seven rebounds, but was held to six points on 1-of-9 shooting. Ibrahima Thomas finished with seven rebounds and two points and Xane D’Almeida handed out four assists but committed six turnovers.

Spain beat France in group play, 88-64, on Wednesday.