FIBA World Cup: Serbia unravels in loss to Spain; Argentina wins group
By Phil Watson
Argentina bursts Poland’s bubble
Poland had established itself as the feel-good story of the FIBA World Cup, winning its first four games and assuring it would move through to the quarterfinals before taking on world No. 5 Argentina to close out second-round play in Group I at Foshan.
Everything came crashing down around the heads of the overmatched Poles, who committed 23 turnovers and surrendered 60 points in the paint as Argentina demolished them 91-65 to win the group.
Argentina (5-0) advances to face Serbia (4-1), the second-place finisher from Group J, in a 6 a.m. Tuesday quarterfinal at Dongguan, while Poland (4-1) gets the Group J winner, Spain (5-0), at 8 a.m. Tuesday in Shanghai.
The interior dominance of the Argentinians played out early, as Argentina scored all 20 of its points in the first quarter from inside the paint and led 42-27 by halftime.
They turned on the gas in the third quarter, opening up a 31-point lead with a 10-0 run late in the period.
Luis Scola had 21 points, six rebounds and three steals for Argentina, scoring 17 in the second half, while Maximo Fjellerup also grabbed six boards. Nicolas Laprovittola had seven assists and four steals and Gabriel Deck also posted four steals.
Argentina shot 54.3 percent overall (38-for-70), even as they were just 8-of-27 (29.6 percent) from 3-point range and 7-for-14 at the foul line. Poland, in addition to the turnovers, shot only 38.1 percent (24-for-63) and was 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) from deep.
A.J. Slaughter scored 16 points for Poland, while Adam Hrycaniuk grabbed six rebounds and Lukasz Koszarek handed out five assists while going scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting.
In a game for positioning in the ninth- through 16th-place finishes, Russia grabbed third place in the group at 3-2 with a 69-60 victory over frigid-shooting Venezuela (2-3).
The Russians didn’t exactly light up the gym, shooting 39.2 percent (20-for-51) overall and going 7-for-20 (35 percent) from 3-point range. But that was Stephen Curry-like efficiency compared to Venezuela’s 30.4 percent (21-for-69) shooting overall. They were 4-for-20 (20 percent) from deep.
Venezuela opened the second half with an 8-2 burst to open their largest lead at 36-29, but Russia clamped down defensively and closed the period with a 48-42 edge.
Venezuela got as close as four in the fourth quarter as Russia went scoreless for the first 2:34 of the period, but never threatened again once Russia found its range.
Andrey Vorontsevich paced the Russians with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Michael Carrera had a game-high 19 points and 10 rebounds for Venezuela before fouling out. Heissler Guillent notched five assists, but had only seven points on 3-of-11 shooting.