WUHAN (China) - An impressive 21 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds from point guard Facundo Campazzo helped Argentina past Russia in a 69-61 Group B win on Wednesday at the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Campazzo was named the undisputed TCL Player of the Game - a well earned feat that saw his teammates celebrate his achievement passionately at the end of the game.

Big in the paint on both offense and defense, power forward Luis Scola used both size and experience to add 13 points and eight rebounds to the statistics board. Marcos Delia contributed 13 points as Argentina fazed off a tough and familiar opponent. 

Turning Point: A seven-point lead established in the third quarter that saw Argentina limit Russia to just seven points set the tone for the eventual result even though Russia pushed the South Americans all the way in the last quarter, scoring 21 points - their highest in a quarter throughout the game but this was not enough. The damage had been done. 

TCL Player of the Game: There are not so many options one can display when coming up against a very quick and intelligent point guard as Campazzo. His agility and acceleration is quite a sight but mostly what he does with the ball is out of this world. The numbers are there to tell the full story - 21 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds in a team with five players that are 6ft8 (202cm) or taller. 

Stats Don't Lie: Russia committed 28 team fouls as compared to Argentina's 17. The South Americans made no mistake. They punished them converting 25-of-36 on the charity line and in a game won by eight points - that was quite the gift. 

Russia's efficiency behind the arc was beyond mediocre converting just four times from 24 attempts - four more converted and they would be facing victory in the face. Nevertheless, coach Sergey Bazarevich will be impressed by his bench players who amassed 36 points as compared to Argentina's 14. 

Bottom Line: The hard-fought victory sends Argentina to the top of Group B with a 3-0 record and sets up a date with Venezuela in the first game of the Second Round, while Russia will begin the next phase of the competition against Group A table leaders Poland in Foshan.

History has it that when Argentina meet Russia at a World Cup or the Olympics, the winner goes on to win a medal. It has happened before in 1994 and 2012 for Russia and 2002 and 2008 for Argentina. The big question remains if 2019 will add itself to this intriguing statistic?

They Said: "It was a big test for us. It was a really hard game for us. We knew that they were going to happen but still it was a really hard game. They moved the ball a lot of offense. They made us work a lot. We are really happy for this victory. It gives us a great step forward in the tournament. We are really looking forward to the next game against Venezuela." - Argentina center Marcos Delia  

"It was an exciting game, tough game. Russia is a different team than the rest of the teams that we have played including our preparations. We played against them but it was a different game. They play great defense. They know how to play together. It is a great deal for us to beat a big European team like Russia."  - Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez 

"Congratulations to Argentina. They are experienced they had we had a bad second quarter but despite this we shoed a good fighting spirit. we were one shot t tie the game we could not control what we wanted cost us in transition I think some of our players did not get into the game. I believe that if given a chance. He [Campazzo] was up to his level. He played really good." - Russia coach Sergey Bazarevich 

"It was a very good lesson we tried not to turnover the ball but we still did 21 times we tried to play defense and then we missed a lot of free throws." - Russia Andrey Zubkov 

FIBA