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

Do-or-die game set for Wednesday

At Beijing, Poland’s win ensured a spot in the second round, not a bad accomplishment for a program playing in its first FIBA World Cup in 52 years, as the Poles improved to 2-0 with their overtime win over China.

China hung around despite 18 turnovers, offsetting a 20-12 edge for Poland in points off turnovers by getting 12 second-chance points to just two for the Poles, with a 12-8 advantage on the offensive glass. China’s size caused problems for Poland on the glass all game long.

But it was Mateusz Ponitka who saved the day for Poland, with some help from A.J. Slaughter. Ponitka ended up with a game-high 25 points to go with nine rebounds, four blocks and two steals, while Slaughter went for 22 points.

Ponitka was 7-for-10 from the floor, going hard to the rim against the slower Chinese defenders all game. But his 11-for-17 free-throw shooting included misses in key moments that prevented Poland from putting the win away earlier.

Damian Kulig, Poland’s burly 32-year-old big man who played last season for Istanbul BB in Turkey, gave his club the lead for good with a driving layup with 10.2 seconds remaining in overtime.

Yi Jianlian scored 24 points and had eight rebounds for China, which also had its share of trouble at the free throw line, going 21-for-33. Wang Zhelin had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Chinese.

China shot 38.1 percent (24-for-63) overall and made only 7-of-25 (28 percent) from 3-point range after starting the game 3-for-3. Poland hit 43.3 percent (26-for-60) overall and was only 5-for-23 (21.7 percent) from deep.

Venezuela ran out to a 17-point halftime lead against Ivory Coast and hung on for an 87-71 win and will go into its winner-take-all game against China on Wednesday with momentum.

Heissler Guillent was the scoring star for Venezuela with 28 points, hitting 5-of-10 from 3-point range, and also handed out seven assists. Miguel Ruiz had 10 points and eight rebounds and the team shot 50.8 percent (33-for-65) overall and 13-for-30 (43.3 percent) from long range.

Charles Abouo did what he could with 19 points for Ivory Coast, which will head to the classification round after falling to 0-2 in group play. Bryan Pamba had six rebounds for Cote D’Ivoire, which shot 45.3 percent (24-for-53) overall and made 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) from 3-point land.

Venezuela’s 39-26 edge on the glass helped them secure the win, as did a 19-8 advantage in points off turnovers.

Ivory Coast closes the first round against Poland at 4 a.m. Eastern Wednesday, with the China-Venezuela showdown set to tip at 8 a.m. Eastern.