FIBA World Cup: Serbia unravels in loss to Spain; Argentina wins group

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(Photo credit should read HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images) /

Serbia had looked unstoppable in the FIBA World Cup … until it ran into No. 2-ranked Spain on Sunday as the Spaniards moved to the quarterfinals unbeaten.

Serbia and Spain had already locked in berths in the FIBA World Cup quarterfinals when they met Sunday to close out play in the second round, but Spain sent a strong message to the rest of the field — the No. 2 team in the FIBA World Rankings is just fine, thank you very much.

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Spain overcame a fast start from Serbia to go into the quarterfinals unbeaten with an 81-69 victory.

Serbia (4-1) had won its first four games by an average of more than 40 points using a similar formula — throw a big flurry early in the game and take the other team’s spirit away.

And the Serbians followed that formula again against Spain (5-0), which had struggled in its last two games to get narrow wins over Iran and Italy. Serbia jumped out to an early nine-point lead and Spain was looking flustered in the first quarter.

But Spain righted itself and completely flipped the script on the Serbians in the second period, taking the lead with a 13-2 run to start the period and outscoring Serbia 32-17 to take a 45-37 lead into the half.

Serbia then came completely apart in the third quarter, highlighted by Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets being ejected after arguing a call just 3:20 into the second half.

Jokic thought he had been fouled by Spain’s Willy Hernangomez of the Charlotte Hornets while trying to retrieve a loose ball, but the official on the sideline called it a jump ball, with possession to Spain.

Jokic was assessed a technical foul and, when he didn’t give up the argument, was tossed.

Spain led by 12 points at the time of Jokic’s ejection and went on a 12-3 run, opening its largest lead of the game at 63-42 with 4:23 left in the third quarter.

Serbia did get the margin down to 11 by quarter’s end, but never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

Ricky Rubio of the Phoenix Suns paced Spain with 19 points, while Victor Claver added 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals and Marc Gasol of the Toronto Raptors went for 11 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Rudy Fernandez notched four steals as Serbia turned the ball over 17 times.

Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Sacramento Kings had a huge game to keep Serbia at least within shouting distance, finishing with 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, but no other Serbian player scored more than eight points.

Serbia shot 40 percent (21-for-52) overall and was just 3-for-19 (16 percent) from 3-point range. Spain was slightly better overall at 42 percent (25-for-59) and canned 9-of-29 (31 percent) from deep.

In Group I, meanwhile, Argentina (5-0) emphatically ended Poland’s unbeaten run through the tournament, forcing 23 turnovers in a crushing 91-65 victory.

Argentina’s grand old man, 39-year-old Luis Scola scored 17 of his game-high 21 points in the second half and also picked off three steals and the Argentinians held Poland’s top scorer, Mateusz Ponitka, to just five points on 1-of-5 shooting.

In classification round play, Nigeria won Group M at 3-2 after beating host China 86-73, while Korea got its first win of the tournament by topping Ivory Coast, 80-71, in games played at Guangzhou.

Josh Okogie of the Minnesota Timberwolves led Nigeria with 19 points and added three steals and two blocks. Yi Jianlian scored 27 points for China (2-3) while Fang Shuo had 19 points and three steals and Sun Minghui notched nine assists.

Guna Ra paced Korea with 26 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks in their win over Ivory Coast (0-5), which was led by Charles Abouo’s 15 points.

At Beijing in Group N of the classification round, Tunisia got to 3-2 with an 86-84 win over Angola after taking the lead with 5:16 to go in the game. The Tunisians had blown a 15-point lead before coming back. Iran finished the round 2-3 after beating the winless Philippines 95-75.

Michael Roll had 21 points and Makram Ben Romdhane added 20 points and seven assists for Tunisia, while Salah Mejri went for 18 points, eight rebounds and eight blocks before fouling out. Yanick Moreira scored 21 points with nine boards for Angola.

Hamed Haddadi led five Iranians in double figures with 19 points and Behnam Yakhchalidehkordi added 14 points and three steals. Robert Bolick scored 15 points for the Philippines and Gave Norwood notched three steals.