Marquinhos lifts Brazil to first win as Spain drop to 0-2

RIO DE JANEIRO (Rio 2016 Olympic Games) - Brazil scraped a 66-65 victory over Spain with Marquinhos getting a tap-in off Marcelo Huertas' miss in the waning seconds.

Beaten by Lithuania in their first game, the Olympic hosts led by as many as 11 points but couldn't pull away from a veteran-laden Spain team. 

The EuroBasket 2015 champions, hoping to reach a third Olympic Final in a row but losers in their first game to Croatia at the death, looked as if they might snatch victory from the jaws of defeat after Sergio Llull gave them a 64-63 advantage with 2:00 remaining.

After Llull made 1 of 2 free-throws, Nene sank only 1 of 2 for Brazil.

Nene fouled Pau Gasol and the superstar misfired on both attempts from the stripe. Marquinhos then hit his go-ahead shot with 5.5 seconds remaining. Spain tried to counter with Llull after a timeout but he failed to get off a good shot while driving to the right.

Turning point: Gasol's missed free-throws with 23 seconds to play helped Brazil, who then went ahead when Nikola Mirotic failed to box out Marquinhos as he snuck in from the baseline and the veteran got the game-winning tap.

Stats Don't Lie: Gasol was just 5 of 12 at the charity stripe.

Hero: Take your pick. Brazil got big plays from Huertas and Marquinhos, but also Augusto Lima played a terrific game guarding Gasol and giving his team a vital presence in the low post.

The Bottom Line: Brazil bounced back from their loss to Lithuania in the best possible way. They will need to build on this performance and do even better against fast-rising Croatia on Thursday. As for Spain, the silver medalists at the last two Olympics find themselves in an 0-2 hole and it doesn't get any easier with upcoming games against Africa champions Nigeria, European rivals Lithuania and Americas stalwarts Argentina.

FIBA