FIBA World Cup: 2nd round taking shape; Day 3 takeaways

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(Photo credit should read GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images) /

Six teams booked passage to the 2nd round of the FIBA World Cup on Day 3, but Groups A and C will have important games on Wednesday to close the 1st round.

On just the third day of the FIBA World Cup, two of the first-round groups have been decided, with six teams clinching their spots in the second round of the 16-day tournament.

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The group of mismatches, Group D, is decided. Italy and Serbia each posted their second blowout wins of the tournament. Italy started the session in Foshan with a 92-61 drubbing of Angola and Serbia lit up the nightcap, shrugging off a slow start to punish the Philippines 126-67.

The play was much more competitive in Group B, but Argentina and Russia each moved to 2-0 and left Nigeria and Korea to the classification round, each at 0-2. The Argentinians topped Nigeria 94-91 at Wuhan and Russia pulled away from Korea in the second half for an 87-73 triumph.

But the game of the day was in Beijing, where host China and upstart Poland couldn’t decide things in just 40 minutes. Poland — in the FIBA World Cup for just the second time ever and its first since 1967 — moved to 2-0 in Group A with a stunning comeback late in regulation before topping China 79-76 in overtime.

It’s the first major international competition of any sort for Poland since they placed seventh at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. So it’s been awhile.

China still can advance with a victory over Venezuela on Wednesday, while Poland clinched a spot in the second round with its win over China on Monday.

Mateusz Ponitka did a little of everything — good and bad — for the Poles. The 26-year-old just signed with Zenit Saint Petersburg in Russia for next season and it was his steal and free throw that forced overtime.

But he missed his second attempt at the end of regulation and another late in overtime that left the door open for China. Yi Jianlian‘s last-second 3-point attempts were off the mark to end regulation and overtime.

China was done in by an inability to get the ball in play in sideline inbounds situations late in the game. Zhou Qi nearly threw the ball away with 10 seconds left and China nursing a one-point lead and in the same situation with 4.2 ticks on the clock, tossed a lazy pass toward midcourt that Ponitka swiped.

Down by two points with nine seconds remaining in overtime, China was called for a five-second violation on a sideline inbounds play. Ponitka was fouled on Poland’s subsequent possession and missed the first free throw before making the second to make it a three-point game.

China’s Sun Minhgui missed two free throws with 6.2 seconds left — the second intentionally — but Poland, which didn’t do anything the easy way after falling behind by as much as 12 points in the first half, knocked the loose ball out of bounds to give China one last chance.

Venezuela improved to 1-1 in Group A with an 87-71 win over Ivory Coast, which will head to the classification round after falling to 0-2.

In Group C, Spain grabbed a second-round berth with a 73-63 win over stubborn Puerto Rico, which will face Tunisia in a winner-take-all game on Wednesday for the group’s other second-round berth. Tunisia set up the showdown with its first-ever win in FIBA World Cup play, beating Iran 79-67.

Here are the takeaways from Day 3 and a look ahead to what to expect on Day 4.