February 10, 2012
2010 World Championships: Day 6, September 2
Group A: Argentina 82-84 Serbia, Jordan 73-91 Germany, Angola 55-76 Australia

Dusko Savanovic - Serbia (Photo: FIBA.com)Serbia overcame Argentina 82-84 in a thriller to finish Group A in Kayseri in first place. Dusko Savanovic of Power Electronics Valencia drained a clutch triple with 18.7 seconds remaining and Aleksandar Rasic of Partizan made his free throws in the closing seconds count to lift Serbia to first place with a 4-1 record. Argentina lost for the first time and dropped to 4-1, but finished second to Serbia due to the head-to-head tiebreaker. Savanovic led Serbia with 19 points, Nenad Krstic had 18, reigning Euroleague MVP Milos Teodosic of Olympiacos scored 16 and Rasic added 10 for the winners. Luis Scola had another monster game with 32 points to lead Argentina and Pablo Prigioni of Real Madrid and Carlos Delfino added 13 each. Teodosic and Prigioni authored the game’s first few baskets, it was Delfino that set the sides apart early as he scored 8 – including 2 threes – in an 11-0 burst that put his team up 16-4. Scola eventually stretched the lead to 13 before Marko Keselj became the first Serbia player other than Teodosic to score. A triple from Benetton Treviso guard Stefan Markovic and then a 4-point play from Keselj capped a 2-13 Serbia charge to get within 22-20 after 10 minutes. Scola put Argentina on his back and scored the first three baskets of the second quarter, but Serbia remained close and tied the game at 33-33 on a Savanovic jumper. The teams traded baskets after that until Markovic’s jumper gave Serbia a 39-40 lead at halftime. Serbia and Argentina remained neck and neck through the third quarter, with Real Madrid forward Novica Velickovic and Scola playing big roles. Serbia looked to pull away as baskets from Savanovic and Krstic made it 54-62 early in the fourth quarter. The lead peaked at 9 on three occasions, however triples from Prigioni and Leonardo Gutierrez brought Argentina back. Paolo Quinteros completed the comeback with a triple to tie the game at 75-75 with 99 seconds to play. Krstic put Serbia back on top only to see Scola sink 2 free throws to tie it at 77-77 with 38.4 seconds. At the other end, Ivan Paunic found Savanovic for an open three with 18.7 seconds remaining that put Serbia up 3. The closing seconds became a free-throw contest, but Rasic made 2 from the line with 4.6 seconds left and Velickovic grabbed Quinteros’s intentional miss with 2.2 second remaining to secure the victory.

Tibor Pleiss - Germany (photo FIBA.com)Germany topped Jordan 73-91 in both teams’ final game at the World Championships. Germany finished Group A in fifth place with a 2-3 record and Jordan sixth without a win. Brose Baskets center Tibor Pleiss paced the winners with 23 points and 9 rebounds, Alba Berlin shooter Lucca Staiger scored 16, Asseco Prokom big man Jan Jagla added 14 and EWE Baskets center Chris McNaughton 12. Osama Daghles led Jordan with 22 points and 6 assists, Rasheim Wright had 14 and 6 and Enver Soobzokov and Zaif Alkhas netted 12 apiece. Germany never trailed, riding Pleiss inside to a 3-11 start. A Daghles triple and Wright free throws made it 9-13, but soon Tim Ohlbrecht had Germany up by double figures. Staiger put Germany up 14 before Daghles sank a triple to make it 17-28 after 10 minutes. The teams traded baskets early in the second quarter, but Jordan pounced as three different players connected from downtown in an 11-0 charge to make it 33-34. Jagla and Staiger combined for the next 6 points to give Germany a 33-40 halftime lead. Slowly, but surely, Germany started to pull away in the third quarter, which ended at 50-67. The German lead peaked at 21 late in the fourth quarter as both coaches gave all their players some minutes as they bid farewell to the tournament.

Australia was third in Group A by thrashing Angola 55-76 in Kayseri on Thursday. Australia was third in Group A at 3-2 and is set to face Slovenia in the eighthfinals on Sunday. Meanwhile, Angola was fourth at 2-3 and battle for a quarterfinals spot against Group B champion USA on Monday. Patrick Mills led the winners with 11 points, but Australia had 8 other players with at least 6 points in a great team effort. Miguel Lutonda and Vladimir Jeronimo led Angola with 9 points apiece. Lutonda and Joaquim Gomes shined early to give Angola a 10-4 lead. Brad Newley and Eurocup Finals MVP Matt Nielsen of Olympiacos stepped up for the Boomers and a layup by David Barlow brought his team within 18-15 after 10 minutes. A 0-11 run that Joe Ingles capped with a triple gave Australia its first lead, 22-26. Angola could not find the way to the basket, as Mills and a triple by Damian Martin helped the Boomers to get a double-digit lead, 29-39, at halftime. A 0-9 run that Aleks Maric of Panathinaikos capped with a free throw broke the game open, 33-48, late in the third quarter. Australia boosted its margin to 38-60 after 30 minutes and managed to keep a safe margin all the way until the final buzzer.



Group B: Brazil 92-74 Croatia, Slovenia 65-60 Iran, USA 92-57 Tunisia

Brazil overpowered Croatia 92-74 to claim a third-place finish in Group C. Brazil improved to 3-2 and will face traditional rival Argentina in the eighthfinals in Istanbul. Croatia dropped to 2-3 and will meet its archrival, Serbia, in the next round. Vrazil outrebounded Croatia 39-28 and made 10 of 19 triples as keys to the game. Marcelo Machado paced Brazil with 18 points, Leandro Barbosa scored 17, Alex Garcia 15, Guilherme Giovannoni 12 and Anderson Varejao pulled in 12 rebounds. Unics Kazan guard Marko Popovic led Croatia with 15 points, BC Khimki big man Kresimir Loncar scored 12, Luksa Andric 11 and Bojan Bogdanovic of Cibona 10. Brazil got just the start it wanted when Marcelinho Huertas of Caja Laboral opened the game with a 3 and soon it was 7-0. frankiereturns: Croatia responded with 8 straight points to take the lead, but Garcia and Barbosa played the lead roles as Brazil assumed control, 16-8. A Bogdanovic triple and a Marko Banic basket brought Croatia within 22-19 after 10 minutes. Machado hit a pair of threes as Brazil stretched the lead to 36-24 midway through the second quarter on the way to a 48-35 halftime cushion. The final blow came at the start of the second half as Croatia was held scoreless for nearly five minutes as Brazil scored 9 more points to take a 22-point lead. The lead reached 25 at one point and sat at 72-50 at the end of the quarter. Croatia tried to mount a late charge, but never got closer than 15 in the fourth quarter as Brazil celebrated the win.

Miha Zupan - Slovenia (photo FIBA.com)Slovenia authored a 65-60 victory over Iran in the second game of the day in Istanbul to wrap up a 4-1 record and second place in Group B. Slovenia advances to face Australia in the eighthfinals round on Sunday. Iran meanwhile leaves Turkey with a 1-4 record and fifth pace in the group. Goran Dragic paced the Slovenian attack with 18 points, Spartak St. Petersburg big man Miha Zupan netted 15 and Sani Becirovic and Efes Pilsen forward Bostjan Nachbar had 10 each. Hamed Ehadadi led Iran with 15 points and Arsalan Kazemi posted 13 points and 14 rebounds in defeat. Slovenia raced out to a 7-0 start with baskets from three different players and extended the lead to double figures with a pair of free throws from Zupan. Jaka Lakovic pushed Slovenia to a 19-6 cushion after 10 minutes. A pair of Javad Davari baskets and a triple from Mahdi Kamrany gave Iran hope early in the second quarter. Ehadadi and Asghar Kardoust each scored twice before Kamrany capped a 0-10 Iranian run to knot the score at 23-23. Dragic single-handedly lifted Slovenia to 28-23 at the half. Zupan and Nachbar helped stretch the lead and after a Kardoust three-point play, Dragic scored half the points in an 8-0 push that made it 43-26. The lead grew to 52-34 at the end of the third quarter. Iran mounted one last charge in the fourth quarter, but a Nachbar triple midway through the period made it 63-46 and ended Iran’s hopes. Nevertheless Iran held Slovenia to just one basket after that and scored the game’s next 11 points, but ran out of time as Slovenia pocketed the win.

The United Stated of America finished Group B with a perfect 5-0 record by overwhelming Tunisia 92-57 in Istanbul on Thursday. USA is set to face Angola in the eighthfinals while Tunisia was sixth in this group ay 0-5. Eric Gordon led the winners with 21 points. Kevin Durant and Russel Westbrook each added 14 for the United States. Marouan Kedrich had 15 points for Tunisia, that led 6-8 after 6 minutes. A three-point play by Durant ignited a 13-3 run that Andre Iguodala capped with a wild alleyoop dunk to give USA a 19-13 edge after 10 minutes. Tunisia did not give up, however, as Kedrich struck three times from downtown and a layup by Mohamed Ghyaza got his team within, 35-33. USA got a 39-33 halftime margin and boosted it to 53-41 midway through the third quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers by Gordon and Stephen Curry broke the game open, 63-44, late in this period. USA boosted its margin to 78-47 with 7 minutes left and never looked back.



Group C: Turkey 87-40 China, Greece 69-73 Russia, Puerto Rico 79-88 Cote d'Ivoire

Oguz Savas - Turkey (photo FIBA.com)Turkey dominated China from start to finish for an 87-40 victory to complete the Group stage with a perfect record in Group C. The host nation used a 20-0 run to finish the second quarter and never looked back. Turkey scored at will in the paint as Fenerbahce Ulker center Oguz Savas paced Turkey with 20 points, Semih Erden added 18 points and 12 rebounds and Omer Asik tallied 17 points and 13 boards. China did not put up much of a fight as it rested some key players knowing that it had advanced to the next round with results earlier in the day. China finishes Group C in fourth place with a 1-4 record and will meet Lithuania in the eight finals. Turkey will face France in the next stage. Sun Yue led China with 15. Zhang Zhaoxu opened the game with a dunk for China, but that would prove to be the visitors’ lone lead of the night. Asik scored half the points in a 12-0 run as Turkey started to dominate en route to a 15-6 lead after 10 minutes. Asik remained hot with two more baskets at the start of the second quarter. Yue responded with a triple and Zhaoxu narrowed the gap to 19-13, but that proved to be China’s last score of the half. Turkey reeled off 20 unanswered points – 8 of them from Savas – while keeping China scoreless for more than six minutes, to take control of the game, 39-13, at halftime. Zhou Peng had China’s first points of the second half, but back-to-back triples from Savas and Ender Arslan took the Turkey lead to 30 points. The hosts never let up, scoring 10 more unanswered points to take a 40-point lead and reaching 66-25 at the end of the third quarter. Turkey continued to pour it on, stretching the lead to a game-high 47 in the closing minutes en route to a convincing win.

Timofey Mozgov - Russia (photo FIBA.com)Russia claimed second place in Group C after holding off a late Greek charge for a 69-73 victory. Russia led by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter before Greece came alive and made a frantic run, but head coach David Blatt’s men held on in the end. Russia finishes the group stage second with a 4-1 record, while Greece is third at 3-2. Timofey Mozgov paced Russia with 18 points and Andrey Vorontsevich added 10. Maccabi Electra big man Sofklis Schortsanitis led Greece with 16 points and 9 rebounds and Montepaschi guard Nikos Zisis added 11. The Russian defense stifled Greece early, holding the 2006 world runner-up to a single basket in the first six minutes. Meanwhile the CSKA Moscow trio of Sergey Bykov, Vorontsevich and Sasha Kaun stoked Russia to a 2-12 start. Schortsanitis tried to get Greece going with a dunk only to see Mozgov score twice. Stratos Perperoglou’s reverse layup in the closing seconds of the quarter limited the damage to 10-20 after 10 minutes. Schortsanitis remained Greece’s top weapon early in the second quarter and after Kostas Kaimakoglou drilled a triple and Baby Shaq slammed down an offensive rebound, Greece was within 20-22. Greece continued its charge, first cutting the gap to 1 of a three from Olympiacos guard Vassilis Spanoulis and then tying the score at 30-30 just before halftime on a Zisis layup-plus-foul. Greece took its first lead at 37-36 on a triple from Olympiacos big man Ioannis Bourousis three-and-a-half minutes into the second half, however BC Khimki guard Vitaly Fridzon responded in form and Mozgov teamed with Evgeny Voronov to lead a run of 13 unaswered points that broke the game open. Russia started to coast with Vorontsevich shining with a triple and then a highlight reel stuff to make it 43-59 after three quarters. The lead reached 20 on a pretty Sergey Monya layup early in the fourth quarter. Greece tried to ship away at the big Russian lead and closed the gap to 58-66 on a Dimitris Diamantidis triple midway through the last quarter. Fridzon hit back from downtown and soon Dynamo Moscow’s Alexey Zhukanenko made an alley-oop drawn up in a timeout to rescuer Russia. Greece made it close in the end, getting within 4 on a Spanoulis triple with 7 seconds left, but Russia held on to secure second place.

Cote D'Ivoire registered its first and final win in Group C by knocking off Puerto Rico 79-88 in Ankara on Thursday. Both teams finished Group C with a 1-4 record and are mathematically out of the competition. Charles-Noe Abouo led the winners with 19 points. Herve Lamizana and Mohamed Kone each added 17 for Cote D'Ivoire. J.J. Barea led Puerto Rico with 19 points. An early rain of three-pointers and a dominant Kone allowed Cote D'Ivoire forced Puerto Rico to call timeout, 6-15, midway through the first quarter. David Huertas and Guillermo Diaz got Puerto Rico within 14-19 after 10 minutes. Brice Assie struck from way downtown to make it a 13-point game, 16-29, early in the second quarter. Daniel Santiago and Renaldo Balkman brought Puerto Rico back to life, 33-39, at halftime. Cote D'Ivoire led all the way in the third quarter and even boosted its margin to 38-48 right after the break but Barea and Huertas stepped up to complete the Boricua comeback, 67-66, with 7 minutes left. Kone and Lamizana rescued Cote D'Ivoire in crunch time, as their team regained a 72-80 lead with over 2 minutes left and cruised to a well-deserved win.



Group D: New Zealand 82-70 France, Lebanon 66-84 Lithuania, Spain 89-67 Canada

New Zealand topped France 82-70 in the final Group D game in Izmir to create a three way tie with Spain and France in the standings with 3-2 records. The 12-point margin of victory for the Kiwis, achieved on a Thomas Abercrombie triple with 6 seconds remaining, saw them leap over France into third place, while Spain finished second and France fourth. New Zealand will now meet Russia in the eighthfinals, while France faces host Turkey. Kirk Penney starred for New Zealand with 25 points and Mika Vukona added 15. Yannick Bokolo led France with 13 points, Mickael Gelabale of Asvel Basket scored 12 and Power Electronics Valencia guard Nando De Colo had 10 and 4 assists. The New Zealand faithful had reasons to cheer from the start with Penney starting the game with a pair of threes to help his team to an 11-3 lead. France fought back, narrowing the gap to 1 on a triple from De Colo. He later sank 2 free throws to tie the score before setting up Bokolo for a triple to give France a 17-20 edge after 10 minutes. Casey Frank and Bokolo traded baskets early in the second quarter, but soon the Tall Blacks took control. A Vukona triple gave New Zealand the lead and Casey added a three as part of a 10-0 run. Virtus Roma big man Ali Traore scored on consecutive possessions for France, but that was just a blip on New Zealand’s radar as four more players scored to stretch the run to 20-3 for a 39-25 halftime edge. Gelabale and De Colo tried to bring France back and cut the deficit to 39-32 early in the second half. Penney soon restored a double-digit lead for New Zealand and Craig Bradshaw stretched it to 51-36 en route to a 58-43 cushion at the end of the quarter. Bokolo had France back within 10 early in the fourth quarter, but New Zealand held strong. Twice Batum brought France within 7 points and Alain Koffi made it 72-66 with 67 seconds remaining, however Pero Cameron answered with a clutch hook shot that wrapped up the win. Then the Tall Blacks began to focus on the tiebreaker, getting a 4-point play from Penney and a clutch triple from Abercrombie with 6 seconds remaining to get the needed 12-point difference.

Jonas Maciulis - Lithuania (photo FIBA.com)Lithuania finished Group D with a perfect mark after beating Lebanon 66-84 in Izmir. Lithuania has off until Sunday, when it will face the fourth place team from Group C in the eighthfinals. Renaldas Seibutis led the Lithuanian attack with 17 points, Lietuvos Rytas sharpshooter Martynas Gecevicius added 16, Tomas Delininkaitis 11 and reigning Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy winner Linas Kleiza had 10. Rony Fahed paced Lebanon with 19 points, Jackson Vroman had 15 and Ali Fakhreddine 11 for Lebanon, which leaves Turkey after finishing the group stage in fifth place at 1-4. It was all Lithuania in the early going as Lebanon was limited to just one basket while Kleiza and Tadas Klimavicius scored 4 points each for a 2-8 lead through five minutes. Fahed helped Lebanon find its groove with a pair of three-pointers to knot the game at 11-11 and the score remained tied after 10 minutes, 16-16. The teams continued to trade baskets and Jean Abd El Nour briefly gave Lebanon the lead at 23-21 before Gecevicius responded with a triple. He hit two more in a 2-15 charge that threatened to brake the game open. However Fahed willed Lebanon back within 4 before Gecevicius scored to make it 32-39 at the half. Gecevicius continued to play a leading role, striking from downtown to restore Lithuania’s double-digit lead early in the third quarter. Lebanon showed spirit as Fakhreddine brought his team within 44-49 midway through the quarter. This time Kleiza threw down a slam and Mantas Kalnietis converted a three-point play as Lithuania built a 51-64 lead through three quarters. Lebanon cut the deficit to 9 once more before Lithuania took the game out of reach, getting to 55-70 after a Klimavicius free throw and seeing the lead peak at 22 after a Seibutis layup en route to victory.

Fran Vazquez - Spain (photo FIBA.com)Spain finished Group D with a 3-2 record by downing Canada 89-67 in Izmir on Thursday. Spain needs to wait until tonight to know its final standings, as it will be second if New Zealand beats France or third elsewhere. Canada was sixth with a 0-5 record. Former Euroleague Rising Star award winner Rudy Fernandez and Regal FCB big man Fran Vazquez led the winners with 19 points apiece. Rising Star trophy holder Ricky Rubio of Regal FCB had 8 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists for Spain. Kelly Olynyk led Canada with 14 points. Spain opened the game with a 12-2 run and a turnaround jumper by Vazquez kept his team way ahead, 28-17, after 10 minutes. A 0-7 run that Jermaine Anderson capped with a three-pointer brought Canada back to life, 34-32, midway through the second quarter. Real Madrid forward Jorge Garbajosa and Fernandez answered from downtown, helping Spain to stay ahead, 42-37, at halftime. Three-pointers by Rubio and an inspired Fernandez gave Spain some fresh air, 52-44, after the break. Fernandez kept pacing Spain and got some help from Felipe Reyes of Real Madrid and Alex Mumbru to boost the Spanish margin to 63-48 after 30 minutes. Spain soon made it a 21-point game, 71-50, and stayed out of troubl
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Euroleague.net
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