OLYM - Spain, Russia in quarters, Australia open account
Russia and Spain each won by just a single point at the London Games on Thursday to clinch top-four spots in Group B and thus seal a place in the Quarter-Finals. Australia were also convincing winners over China and stayed firmly in the hunt for a spot in the Quarter-Finals. The Russians edged Brazil, 75-74, when Vitaliy Fridzon made a three-pointer with ...
LONDON (Olympics) - Russia and Spain each won by just a single point at the London Games on Thursday to clinch top-four spots in Group B and thus seal a place in the Quarter-Finals.
Australia were also convincing winners over China and stayed firmly in the hunt for a spot in the Quarter-Finals.
The Russians edged Brazil, 75-74, when Vitaliy Fridzon made a three-pointer with just four seconds remaining.
Leandro Barbosa rushed up a three-ball before the final buzzer that only hit the backboard for Brazil, who are nevertheless in good shape to advance with two wins in their first three games.
Spain then denied the hosts Great Britain their first victory by making 10 of their last 11 free-throws over the final 3:01 in a 79-78 triumph.
The European champions led by 13 at the end of the third quarter but the Brits refused to go away.
Chris Finch's team got 26 points from Luol Deng and 25 from Joel Freeland.
In front of a roaring and partisan crowd, the Olympic hosts hit five of their nine three-pointers in the fourth quarter and three in the last 28 seconds.
The last made three-ball came with eight seconds to go to pull Finch's team to within one point.
Britain tried to foul Jose Calderon but he eluded them and dribbled out the clock.
"Congratulations to Spain," Finch said, "the class of our pool, no doubt.
"They have class players that make big-time plays at big-time moments.
"But I was proud of our players, too, who made big-time plays at big-time moments.
"It was nice to see us making shots and playing with confidence. I knew our team would fight all the way through."
Spain's Marc Gasol was asked about the end of the contest.
"It wasn't a case of suffering," he said.
"It has been a very difficult game, with tough shots.
"It has been hard but beautiful. The important thing is that we got our third victory.
"There is still a lot of room for improvement. We have to improve on a lot of things."
In a battle of 0-2 sides, Australia had a real fight for the first 15 minutes of their game against China but took a 49-33 lead to half-time.
The Chinese clawed their way back to 61-52 by the end of the third quarter but the Boomers shut them out for the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter and led 70-52.
They cruised home over the last five minutes.
The Boomers out-rebounded China, 51-36, and also forced Bob Donewald's team to commit 19 turnovers.
FIBA