ESP - Spain overpower Angola in pre-Japan friendly

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VALENCIA (FIBA World Championship) - Spain gave Angola a double-dose of Gasol and cruised past the African champions 97-73 on Sunday at the Torneo Comunitat Valenciana.

In a friendly between two teams that will be in FIBA World Championship Group B, Spain led 44-37 at half-time.

Pepu Hernandez gave some of the 9,000 fans on hand a look at both Memphis Grizzlies seven-footer Gasol and Marc, a 21-year-old reserve at Winterthur Barcelona, on the court at the same time before the interval.

Spain began to pull away in the third quarter for an easy win and the 26-year-old Pau Gasol ended up with 19 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes while Marc finished with four four points and four rebounds in just under 16 minutes.

Marc is battling for a place in the squad that will travel to Japan and will not know if he has made it until after the Madrid Tournament.

"The really important game is tomorrow against Serbia," Pau Gasol said. "We (starters) didn't play many minutes and I don't feel tired having played in every game so far."

Spain, who are among the pre-World Championship favourites, play Serbia & Montenegro on Monday in the final of the Valenciana tournament while China will take on Angola in the third place game.
 
Spain's Jose Manuel Calderon finished with nine points after making all three of his attempts from the arc while his new Toronto Raptors team-mate, Jorge Garbajosa, missed all five of his attempts from long range but ended up with 10 points.

Felipe Reyes scored 12 points in just 11 minutes while Juan Carlos Navarro weighed in with eight, most of them coming out the stripe where he was a perfect six of six from the line.

Eduardo Mingas scored 12 points for Angola and Olimpio Cipriano 11.

Cindy Garcia-Bennett
PA Sport, Valencia Exclusively for FIBA