May 25, 2012
2010 World Championships: Day 4, August 31
Group C: Greece 65-76 Turkey,Russia 72-66 Cote d'Ivoire, Puerto Rico 84-76 China

Omer Onan - Turkey (Photo fibaeurope.com)Turkey sits pretty atop Group C after handing rival Greece its first loss, 65-76. Turkey never trailed after the second minute and led by as many as 18 to improve to 3-0. It will clinch the top spot in the group with a win over Puerto Rico on Wednesday. Ersan Ilyasova starred with 26 points, making all 6 of his three-point attempts for the host nation. Omer Asik added 12 points and Semih Erden had 10 for Turkey. Olympiacos big man Ioannis Bourousis paced Greece with 15 points and 7 rebounds. The game was close early, with the hosts taking small leads and Greece answering back. Ilyasova helped Turkey jump to a 12-18 cushion with a triple and 2 free throws. Erden soon had Turkey up 8 before Sofoklis Schortsanitis scored from the line. A Dimitris Diamantidis triple at the buzzer was ruled to be late after the referees checked with the instant replay monitor, leaving Turkey ahead 15-22 after 10 minutes. Antonis Fotsis and Omer Onan traded triples early in the second period and Schortsanitis powered his way inside to keep Greece close. Though Greece could not stop Ilyasova, Bourousis answered twice from downtown to bring Greece within 31-32 midway through the quarter. Ender Arslan came alive from outside to push the Turks to a 33-41 lead only to see Kostas Kaimakoglou and Vassilis Spanoulis drain threes to make it 39-41 at halftime. Both teams cooled down as the second half got underway, Turkey was first to find its groove with Onan hitting from downtown and Kerem Tunceri driving to make it 41-50. A Hedu Turkoglu triple stretched the lead to 10 and brought the Turkish crowd to its feet. Diamantidis fought back and got the Greeks within 50-55, however Ilyasova struck twice from behind the arc as Turkey raced to a 51-65 lead with one quarter to go. Turkey put the game away early in the fourth as Ilyasova connected on a triple and Omer Asik threw down a slam for a 54-72 Turkey lead. Nick Calathes ignited a 9-0 Greek run to bring his team within 65-73, but Turkoglu hit back from downtown and Greece failed to score in the final four minutes as Turkey remained undefeated with an impressive win.

Sasha Kaun - Russia (photo FIBA.com)Russia improved to 2-1 in Group C by edging Cote D'Ivoire 72-66 in Ankara on Tuesday. Timofey Mozgov paced the winners with 20 points. Sasha Kaun of CSKA added 13 but Vitaliy Fridzon of BC Khimki was the game hero by hitting 4-of-4 free throws in the final 18.8 seconds to seal the outcome. Mohamed Kone led Cote D'Ivoire with 16 points. His team had a strong start, as Kone and a jumper by Mouloukou Diabate allowed their team to gey an early 5-8 lead. Back-to-back dunks by Mozgov and a three-pointer by Fridzon allowed Russia to get a five-point lead, 17-12, after 10 minutes. Dimitriy Khvostov of Dynamo Moscow struck from downtown and Mozgov added a fast break layup to make it a double-digit game, 22-12. Cote D'Ivoire found a go-to guy in Herve Lamizana and Kone followed a dunk with free throws to get his team within 34-30 at halftime. A six-meter jumper by Brice Assie tied the game, 40-40, late in the third quarter. Mozgov had 9 quick points to keep Russia out of trouble, 53-44, after 30 minutes. An unsportsmanlike foul by Khimki forward Sergey Monya allowed Cote D'Ivoire to return to the game, 68-66, after a 0-8 run. Fridzon drew a foul with 18.8 seconds left and calmly sank both free throws, enough for Russia to put the victory on ice.


Angel Vassallo - Puerto Rico (photo FIBA.com)
STANDINGS
Group C W-L
Turkey 3-0, +59
Russia 2-1, +6
Greece 2-1, +0
Puerto Rico 1-2, -4
China 1-2, -6
Cote d'Ivoire 0-3, -55
Puerto Rico picked up its maiden win at the World Championships and dropped China to 1-2 in Group C with an 84-76 victory in the Turkish capital. Puerto Rico used a balanced effort to hold off China and could seal a spot in the next stage with one more win. Asvel Basket forward A.D. Vassallo starred for the winners with 22 points – including 16 in the first half. J.J. Barea tallied 13 points and 9 assists, while Carmelo Lee and Nathan Peavy added 13 too and Renaldo Balkman posted a double-double. Yi Jianlian led China with 24 points, Wang Zhizhi scored 17 and Sun Yue added 12 and 5 assists. China looked strong early as Zhizhi connected twice for the game’s first 5 points. He soon added a triple and then turned from scorer to provider with a dish to Jianlian for a slam and a 7-17 China lead. Puerto Rico streaked back and used a run of 8 straight points – half from Vassallo – to take the lead for the first time. Another Zhizhi jumper put China back up 20-21 after 10 minutes. A David Huertas triple to open the second quarter put Puerto Rico up top once more, though China kept it close. Zhou Peng’s triple cut the gap to 36-35, however Lee ignited a 6-0 spurt that helped the Puerto Ricans to a 44-37 halftime lead. Yue drained a pair of threes as China stormed out of the gate to take the lead early in the second half. Puerto Rico responded with three straight baskets and soon took its biggest lead yet, 59-50, on a reverse P.J. Ramos layup in transition. The lead reached 10 before Zhizhi and Ding Jinhui crept China within 63-57 at the end of the quarter. Yue’s third three-pointer of the night made it 67-64 two minutes into the fourth quarter, but Puerto Rico responded with 5 quick points. Peavy stepped up on offense and soon a technical foul on the China bench gave Puerto Rico to stretch its lead back to double figures. China continued to try, but never got closer than 8 in the remaining minutes and Puerto Rico walked away victorious.



Group D: Spain 73-76 Lithuania, France 68-63 Canada, New Zealand 108-76 Lebanon

Martinas Pocius - Lithunia (Photo FIBA.com)Lithuania roared back from 18 points down to stun the defending World Champion Spain 73-76. It came down to the closing seconds and reigning Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy winner Linas Kleiza made 2 clutch free throws with 6 seconds left and Zalgiris guard Mantas Kalnietis deflected a pass on Spain’s last attack to give Lithuania the win. Lithuania now sits tied with France atop Group D at 3-0 with a showdown between them looming on Wednesday. Spain dropped to 1-2 and a loss in either of its remaining games could send the champs home much earlier than expected. Kleiza paced the Lithuania attack with 17 points and 8 rebounds, Jonas Maciulis of Armani Jeans Milano and Marty Pocius scored 13 each and his Zalgiris teammate Kalnietis added 12 and 5 assists. Former Euroleague MVP Juan Carlos Navarro and Marc Gasol scored 18 apiece to lead Spain. Gasol also grabbed 8 boards. Rudy Fernandez added 13 points and 9 rebounds and Jorge Garbajosa scored 11. Spain and Lithuania felt each other out in the opening minutes and the scoreboard showed 9-9 after Power Electronics Valencia big man Robertas Javtokas’s free throw six minutes into the game. However Spain turned its game up a notch and Garbajosa, Raul Lopez and Fernandez all notched triples in a 13-2 march to end the quarter up 22-11. Alex Mumbru scored twice to take the Spanish lead to 15 at the start of the second quarter. Lithuania found its touch from outside as Simas Jasaitis and Pocius drilled back-to-back threes to make it 26-19. Slowly, but surely, Lithuania continued to narrow the gap and got to within 5 on a Kleiza bucket. Ricky Rubio converted a three-point play with 4 seconds left in the half to give Spain a 43-35 cushion at the break. Rubio fed Fernandez for a pretty alley-oop slam for the first points of the second half, but Kalnietis began pacing the Lithuania attack. Nonetheless, more from Fernandez and a Garbajosa three put Spain back in the driver’s seat. Soon Navarro reeled off 5 straight points and Gasol scored inside to make it 61-43. A timeout helped Lithuania reorganize and get 6 points from four trips to the line in the next few minutes, but a Sergio Llull triple reestablished Spain’s control as it held a 64-53 lead through three quarters. Kleiza and Maciulis kept Lithuania going, the latter with a pair of steals and highlight reel slams to make it 64-61. Pocius took the run to 0-10 before Gasol finally ended a five-minute Spanish drought from the line. Pocius then sank a triple to knot the game at 66-66. Navarro and Gasol kept Spain barely ahead until Kalnietis sank a three with 1:47 to go to tie the game at 71-71. Kleiza carved his way through the Spanish defense to give Lithuania its first lead since the opening minutes. Maciulis fouled out at the other end, but Gasol missed twice from the line with 19 seconds left. Pocius put Lithuania up 3 from the line with 16 seconds to go. Navarro hit back with 2 free throws 4 seconds later, making it 73-74. Kleiza went back to the line with 6 seconds left and sank 2 free throws and Kalnietis knocked away a pass to deny Spain a final shot, allowing Lithuania to celebrate a fine win.

Alain Koffi - France (photo FIBA.com)France remained undefeated after surviving a stern test from winless Canada that went down to the wire. A pair of free throws from Asvel Basket forward Mickael Gelabale with 18 seconds left and a clutch block from Le Mans center Alain Koffi in the closing seconds wrapped up a 68-63 victory. Nicolas Batum scored 24 to lead France to a 3-0 record, which guaranteed head coach Vincent Collet’s men a spot in the next round. Euroleague veteran Levon Kendall paced Canada with 14 points and Kelly Olynyk added 13, but it was not enough to get Canada its first win, severely damaging its chances of advancing. Kendall helped Canada to an early lead, though France was never far behind in what shaped up to be a tough, physical game. Gelabale cut the gap to a single point before Canada’s Jermaine Bucknor and Batum traded shots from downtown. A Yannick Bokolo triple knotted the game at 15-15 after 10 minutes. Canada started the second quarter with better momentum and led 16-22 after a pair of Olynyk free throws, but it took France just two minutes to tie the score. Boris Diaw gave France its first lead, 28-26, with a minute-and-a-half left in the first half only to see Olynyk tie the score at 28-28 at the buzzer. The game remained tight in the third quarter and despite France taking a two-basket lead at one point, Canada answered to tie the score and take the lead, 46-48, heading into the decisive fourth quarter. Canada held France scoreless for the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, but only took its lead to 6. France snapped back with 6 quick points – 4 from Batum – to tie the game once more, 52-52. France crept ahead on a Nando De Colo triple, but Canada tied it on the next possession. The lead swapped hands several times more and a Gelabale triple with under two minutes to go made it 62-60, bringing the France bench to its feet. Gelabale made it a 3-point game from the line and Canada had multiple looks from behind the arc to tie the game, but was unsuccessful. Jermaine Anderson made it 64-63 from the line with 19 seconds remaining and then Canada immediately sent Gelabale to the line. He sank both free throws and Alain Koffi rejected Denham Brown at the other end, sealing a tough win for France.

STANDINGS
Group D W-L
France 3-0, +38
Lithuania 3-0, +17
Spain 1-2, +9
New Zealand 1-2, +2
Lebanon 1-2, -49
Canada 0-3, -17
New Zealand registered its first win in Group D and kept its qualifying chances alive by overwhelming the Lebanon 108-76 in Izmir on Tuesday. Both teams tie for fourth place in Group D, each with a 1-2 record. Kirk Penney led the winners with 26 points on 6-of-10 three-pointers. Thomas Abercrombie added 23 for the Boomers. Fadi El-Khatib led the Lebanon with 18 points. Abercrombie and Mika Vukona fueled a 16-4 run that allowed New Zealand to get a 15-point lead, 24-9, after 7 minutes. Phil Jones took over late in this period to boost the Tall Blacks' lead to 32-16 at the end of the first quarter. A three-pointer by Penney and a stop-and-pop jumper by Abercrombie boosted their team's lead to 51-32 at halftime. Nothing changed after the break, as the Boomers boosted their margin to 77-49 late in the third quarter and did not find any trouble to seal the outcome long before the final buzzer.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Euroleague.net
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