The Round of 16 of the FIBA World Cup culminates today with four games being played in two cities as the quarter-final picture will be completed.
Madrid
Serbia 90-72 Greece
Serbia ramped up the intensity in the third quarter to comfortably beat Greece 90-72 in the penultimate Round of 16 game in Madrid.
A 12-0 run mid-way through the fourth was the ultimate game-changer for Serbia and a heartbreaker for the Greeks, who head home. Bogdan Bogdanovic had a game-high 21 points for the Serbs.
Brazil 85-65 Argentina
Brazil will face Serbia in the quarter-finals, after they put on a second half transition clinic on their way to beating rivals Argentina 85-65.
Trailing 36-33 at the half, the Brazilians went on a 9-0 run to start the third quarter, something that Argentina could never recover from as Luis Scola was hampered by foul trouble as was Pablo Prigioni.
Raulzinho Neto led all scorers for Brazil with 21 points, as the duo of Tiago Splitter and Nene took care of Argentina’s Luis Scola, who finished with 9 points; a World Cup low.
Barcelona
New Zealand 71-76 Lithuania
Lithuania let a double-digit lead slip early in the fourth but eventually overcame New Zealand 76-71 to reach the quarter-finals.
The Baltic nation got off to a fast start and led 23-9 after the first ten minutes, but as the game progressed, the Tall Blacks came back, and a 9-0 start to the final quarter handed the Kiwis the lead. Led by Jonas Valanciunas’ 22 points though, the Eurobasket runners-up showed enough grit to claim the win.
Turkey 65-64 Australia
A three-pointer with five seconds remaining from Emir Preldzic handed Turkey a 65-64 come-from-behind win over Australia.
Preldzic and Sinan Guler led Turkey with 16 points each as they play Lithuania in the quarter-finals.
Quarter-Final line-up
USA vs Slovenia; Lithuania vs Turkey (Barcelona)
Spain vs France; Serbia vs Brazil (Madrid)
