ARG - Argentina back to winning ways

SINGAPORE (FIBA World Championship) – Argentina shook off the disappointment of a heavy defeat to Serbia & Montenegro by trouncing Slovenia 94-72 on Saturday in their second match at the Philips Singapore Cup.

The Olympic champions broke open a close match by outscoring the Slovenians 29-7 in the third quarter - 24 hours after an 83-64 loss to the two-time defending world champion Serbo-Montenegrins.

Argentina trailed by seven points early in the second quarter but with Carlos Delfino coming off the bench to score 12 points in the period, the South Americans went on a 17-5 run that turned the match in their favour.

Sergio Hernandez, the Argentina coach, said: "We played better today. We ran our offense well and made easy baskets."

Forward Luis Scola was the leading Argentinian scorer with 21 points, while Andres Nocioni had 17 points and Delfino 14. Guard Manu Ginobili finished with nine points on four of nine shooting and also had six assists.

For Slovenia, guard Beno Udrih top-scored with 18 points while center Radoslav Nesterovic had 18 points and seven rebounds.

Nesterovic, the Slovenia captain, scored eight and grabbed four boards in the opening quarter as the European side jumped out to a 22-20 lead and they built a 28-21 early in the second quarter before Delfino found his range.

The shooting guard nailed a three-pointer for his first points as the South Americans outscored their opponents 27 to 14 for the rest of the half to take a 48-42 lead at the break.

Nesterovic began the scoring in the second half with a lay-up but Slovenia’s shooting then went cold and Argentina took full advantage, reeling off 11 straight points to lead 59-44.

With Slovenia making only three of their 15 shots in the quarter, Argentina took full advantage to open up a 77-49 lead with 10 minutes to play.

Argentina were in front by as many as 30 points early in the fourth quarter.

Slovenia cut the deficit to 22 points by the end of the game but they walked off the court knowing they had been well beaten.

Hernandez revealed after Saturday's game that the team had not practiced earlier in the day.

Instead, the coach gathered with his players to discuss tactics, the need to have better shot selection and the importance of maintaining intensity on the defensive end.

"We didn't practice today," he said. "We had two meetings. In the first one, we talked about us and about the problems we had yesterday.

"In the afternoon, we talked about Slovenia, watched a DVD and talked about how we were going to play against them. We played very well on defense."

Argentina will meet Spain in their final game of the Singapore Cup on Sunday while Slovenia take on Serbia & Montenegro.

By Colin Pereira, PA Sport
Exclusively for FIBA