FIBA World Cup: Marc Gasol and Ricky Rubio star as Spain advance

Serbia, Italy, Poland, Argentina and Russia win through to second round with a game to spare; overtime heartbreak for hosts China

Monday 2 September 2019 16:29, UK

Marc Gasol scored 19 points and Ricky Rubio added 17 as Spain used a 21-10 third quarter to overpower Puerto RIco and advance to the second round of the FIBA World Cup.

Puerto Rico 63-73 Spain

Spain (2-0) made light work of advancing to the second round of the World Cup, dispatching Puerto Rico (1-1) 73-63 in Guangzhou.

The game was finely poised with Spain leading 36-35 at half-time but the 2006 world champions broke the game open in the third period, outscoring their opponents 21-10.

Marc Gasol scored 19 points and Ricky Rubio added as Spain pulled away to seal their progress from Group C.

Gian Clavell scored 13 for Puerto Rico.

Serbia 126-67 Philippines

Serbia advanced to the second round after hammering Philippines 126-67 in Foshan.

Nemanja Bjelica led seven Serbian players who scored 10 points or more, while the Philippines' most important player Andray Blatche had a night to forget, finishing with a meagre five points and five rebounds before fouling out.

Bjelica scored a game-high 20 points in 16 minutes while Bogdan Bogdanovic contributed 17 points and five assists. Nikola Jokic had an excellent all-round game with 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in 18 minutes.

Serbia will play their second-round games in Group J in Wuhan against the two teams that finish in the first two places of Group D (Spain, Puerto Rico, Tunisia or Iran).

China 76-79 Poland (OT)

Poland (2-0) booked their place in the second round after prevailing in a 79-76 overtime thriller against hosts China in Group A.

Poland came up with the big plays when it mattered most with Mateusz Ponitka pouring in 25 points while AJ Slaughter offering superb support with 22 points and four assists. Damian Kulig chipped in six points, including a huge lay-up late in overtime.

China dropped to 1-1 in the group despite Yi Jianlian collecting 24 points and eight rebounds. China's main playmaker Guo Ailun fouled out midway through the third quarter with just six points in 13 minutes.

In a game that was tight throughout, China looked poised to win the game, up by one point with the ball and 4.2 seconds left. But Pontika stole Qi Zhou's inbounds pass and was fouled as he raced back to win the game. The Polish star split the free throws and the game went to overtime.

With the game deadlocked, Kulig faked a three-pointer and drove to the basket for a reverse lay-up with 10.8 seconds to play in the extra session. With 9.8 seconds left, China's Zhao Jiwei was unable to inbound the ball and was called for a five-second violation. Pontika split two more free throws to decide the game.

Nigeria 81-94 Argentina

Argentina's 39-year-old forward Luis Scola climbed into the No 2 spot on FIBA's all-time World Cup scoring list on Monday as his 23 points helped Argentina hold off Nigeria 94-81 in a Group B game at Wuhan, clinching a berth in the second round.

Scola, whose five World Cup appearances are tied for the most by any player, also had 10 rebounds for Argentina (2-0).

Scola, the oldest player on Argentina's roster by more than 11 years, now has 611 points in his World Cup career and is now second only to Brazilian legend Oscar Schmidt's 906 points in the tournament.

Josh Okogie led Nigeria (0-2) with 18 points.

Tunisia 79-67 Iran

Tunisia ran out to an early double-digit lead and beat Iran 79-67 in Guangzhou, bouncing back from a blowout loss to Spain in their Group C opener.

Salah Mejri finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds for Tunisia (1-1), going 5-for-9 from three-point range. Aaron Geramipoor scored 18 for Iran (0-2).

Italy 92-61 Angola

Italy outscored Angola 36-6 from three-point range and had little trouble improving running to a 92-61 victory in Foshan and improve to 2-0 in Group D.