Turkey to meet Aussies in World Cup round of 16

BARCELONA

Turkey's centre Oğuz Savaş (R) tries to score past Dominican Republic's forward Jack Martinez (L) and Dominican Republic's guard Juan Coronado (R) during the 2014 FIBA World basketball championships group C match Turkey vs Dominican Republic at the Bizkaia Arena in Bilbao on Sept. 4. AFP Photo

Turkey has advanced to the Round of 16 at the FIBA Basketball World Cup after seeing off the Dominican Republic 77-64 on Sept. 4 to finish second in Group C behind the unbeaten United States and set up a date with Australia on Sept. 7.

Turkey’s “12 Giant Men” beat on Sept. 4 to finish the Group C as the runner-up behind the titleholders, and will move to Barcelona for the final round games. The winner of the Turkey vs. Australia game will meet either Lithuania or New Zealand in the quarterfinals.

Turkey looked to be on the way out of the tournament earlier this week after back-to-back defeats to the U.S. and Ukraine, but the team bounced back with a comeback win over Finland before the Dominican Republic victory.

The reigning champions from the U.S., hosts Spain and Greece finished group play unbeaten while Lithuania handed Slovenia their first defeat of the tournament also on Sept. 4.

James Harden scored 17 points to lead the Americans to a 95-71 victory in Group C while four others hit at least 10 points. The defeat also cost Ukraine a spot in the round of 16 as they dropped from second in the group going into the day to fifth.

New Zealand snatched up the fourth and final knockout berth in the group with a 67-65 win over Finland. Isaac Fotu collected 18 points and eight rebounds for the Tall Blacks. New Zealand’s reward will be a Round of 16 date with Lithuania, who allowed just two points in the fourth quarter for a 67-64 win over previously unbeaten Slovenia to take first place in Group D. Jonas Valanciunas led Lithuania with 12 points.

Slovenia finished second despite 14 points from Domen Lorbek and will take on the Dominican Republic in the knockouts.

Also in Group D, Angola beat Australia 91-83 with Yannick Moreira collecting 38 points and 15 rebounds. Australia rested two of their top players, Joe Ingles and Aron Baynes.  

Mexico secured fourth place in the group – and a date with the United States on Sept. 6 – with an 87-71 victory over South Korea. Hector Hernandez had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Mexico.
Both Groups A and B were won by undefeated teams.

Group A winners Spain built an early lead and never let Serbia back into the game in an 89-73 victory as Pau Gasol had 20 points and Ricky Rubio collected 12 points, four rebounds, six assists and seven steals.      

Serbia, who got 19 point from Nemanja Bjelica, finished fourth in the group.

Brazil took second place with a 4-1 record following a 128-65 thrashing of winless Egypt as Leandroinho Barbosa had 22 points and Anderson Varejao collected 15 points and 10 rebounds.  
France booked a ticket to the Round of 16 with an 81-76 win over Iran as Thomas Huertel was top scorer with 15 points. Iran finished 1-4 at the tournament despite 22 points and 15 rebounds from Hamed Haddadi.  

Group B was topped by Greece, who knocked off Argentina 79-71 as Nick Calathes had 18 points and Giannis Bourousis chipped in 16 points and 15 rebounds.

The Greeks will next face off with Serbia in a classic European battle on Sept. 7.

Argentina, who got 17 points from Luis Scola, finished third in the group and will do battle with South American rivals Brazil also on Sept. 7.

Earlier in Group B, Bojan Bogdanovic poured in 23 points as Croatia beat Puerto Rico 103-82 in a winner-moves-on, loser-goes-home showdown. Croatia jumped all the way to second and will take on France in the Round of 16 on Sept. 6.

The day in Group B started with a feel-good story as Philippines picked up their first World Championship victory since 1974 by knocking off Senegal 81-79 as Jim Alapag scored 18 points and Andray Blatche had 18 points and 14 rebounds.  

Senegal dropped to 2-3 in the group but claimed fourth place with a Round of 16 match-up against Spain awaiting on Sept. 6.