Spain - Spain needs overtime to top China in men's basketball

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The Spanish men's basketball team survived a scare against host China in preliminary play Tuesday at the 2008 Beijing Games, but needed overtime to nail the win.

Spain outscored China 13-3 in the extra five-minute period to win 85-75 at the Olympic Basketball Arena and remain unbeaten in Group B.

Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol scored nine of Spain's points in overtime to finish with 29 on the afternoon. He added eight rebounds.

Versatile swingman Rudy Fernandez chipped in with 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Spain (2-0), while Felipe Reyes added 10 points and six rebounds.

Captain Liu Wei led China with 19 points in a losing effort, while Houston Rockets star centre Yao Ming was limited to 11 points and nine rebounds.

The turning point in overtime came with 2:28 to play, as Yao was forced out of the game with his fifth foul.

Gasol responded at the other end of the floor with a three-point play to give Spain it's biggest lead of the game, 79-74, and the team never looked back.

Marc Gasol — Pau's younger brother — sent the game to overtime. He tied the game, 72-72, with a fadeway in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter.

Before that, however, China (0-2) gave the defending world champions all they could handle.

China drilled five three-pointers in the second quarter en route to building a 46-37 advantage at halftime, and maintained a 61-47 lead entering the fourth before its late collapse.
Croatia stuns Russia in Group A

In other play, the Croatian men's basketball team earned a hard-fought 85-78 win over the European Champions from Russia to remain undefeated.

The duo of guard Marko Popovic and swingman Zoran Planinic did most of the damage, scoring 22 and 20 points, respectively, for Croatia, which improves to 2-0 in Group A preliminary action.

Forward Andrei Kirilenko of the NBA's Utah Jazz had a solid all-round game for Russia (1-1), with 18 points, six rebounds, three blocks and three assists.

The Croats hit eight of their 15 attempts (52 per cent) from three-point range, with five of them coming in the first-half for a 42-36 advantage at the half.

But Russia refused to go away, closing the gap to as few as five points on several occasions in the fourth quarter.

Planinic turned the tide in Croatia's favour with just over a minute to play, as he drilled a three-pointer for an 82-74 lead.

Sergey Bykov replied with two quick baskets for Russia to cut the lead to four, before Popovic hit three straight free throws to cement the victory for Croatia.

Croatia will move on to face a strong team from Argentina on Thursday, while the Russians will take on Lithuania.

Also Tuesday, Greece won 87-64 over Germany in a matchup of teams that reached the Beijing Games via the qualifying tournament in July.

Greece received some great play from its guards, as Vassilis Spanoulis chipped in 23 points with five assists and Theodoros Papaloukas added 15 points with five rebounds.

Dimitris Diamantidis turned in another solid backcourt performance for Greece (1-1), adding 12 points with two steals.

Germany (1-1) was led by sharpshooting forward Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 13 points and pulled down six rebounds.

Lithuania cruised to a 99-67 win over Iran, winner of the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship.

Forward Linas Kleiza of the NBA's Denver Nuggets paced Lithuania (2-0) with 22 points and eight rebounds, while veteran point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius chipped in with 20 points.

Centre Hamed Ehadadi was the only player to reach double figures for Iran (0-2) with 21 points.