OLYM - Argentina reach third consecutive Olympic Semis

LONDON (Olympics) - Argentina beat Brazil 82-77 in Wednesday's third Quarter-Final to reach their third consecutive Olympic Semi-Final.

Luis Scola had 17 points and Manu Ginobili added 16 to go along with eight rebounds and three assists.

Carlos Delfino also had 16 points, as five players scored in double digits for Julio Lamas' side.

Argentina led by as many as 15 late in the third quarter, but Brazil came back within two in the final frame.

Juan Gutierrez put the 2004 Olympic champions up 61-46 with 2:35 remaining in the third quarter before Brazil cut the deficit to 64-54 by the end of the period.

When Ginobili hit a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter, Argentina's lead was 70-59. However, Ruben Magnano's team scored the next nine points to get within 70-68 on Alex Garcia's fastbreak dunk with 4:21 left to play.

The Argentinians responded quickly, courtesy of Pablo Prigioni.

Ginobili then made a big play by drawing an offensive foul from Garcia. At the other end, Nocioni made a tough driving lay-up over Nene to restore a six-point edge, 74-68.

When Leandro Barbosa used a great crossover move on Nocioni - who tripped himself up and fell to the floor - to create some space and hit a three-pointer with 1:45 left, the Brazilians were within 74-71.

Ginobili and Scola each hit a pair of free-throws and following a Barbosa turnover, Delfino did likewise for an 80-71 advantage.

The Brazilians were now stopping the clock and fouled Prigioni who converted from the charity stripe like his team-mates before him to push the gap to 82-71.

Barbosa hit two more three-pointers while Scola missed his last four foul shots but Argentina had enough of a cushion.

Brazil led 26-23 at the end of the first quarter but Argentina used an 8-0 spurt to go in front 35-30 and lead 46-40 at halftime.

Delfino and Scola combined for 24 of Argentina's points over the first two quarters, while Marcelinho Huertas took Brazil's scoring load on his shoulders with 17 points already by the break.

After the intermission, Argentina pulled away as Ginobili and Nocioni took over the scoring load. They also got a lending hand from Gutierrez for their biggest lead of the game.

Argentina reached the Olympic Semi-Finals in 2004, on their way to winning gold and in 2008, when they had to settle for bronze.

"We fight hard. We know each other very well. We've got experience. We've been here multiple times. Regardless, Brazil is a tough opponent. It was very tough to score on them in the second half," Ginobili said afterwards.

"It got tangled and hard and physical but we maintained the effort on the boards and good D, and we played our game. It's amazing."

Magnano, who eight years ago coached Argentina to their gold medal in Athens, said his Brazil team should be proud of what it did, appearing in the Men's Olympic Basketball for the first time since 1996.

"When these players go out on the court, they do the best to represent Brazil. This was our best game of the tournament," he said.

"My players played intelligently. Occasionally, our defense, our strong point, didn't work well. It was our turn to lose today and let me repeat what I said: they can leave with their head held high tonight."

In Thursday's Semi-Finals, Argentina will take on the winners of the Quarter-Finals between the USA and Australia.

FIBA