Olympics Basketball: Spain, Lithuania win following bomb scare
After last-second losses in their first two games, Spain got past Nigeria 96-87 in a match-up of desperate winless teams, led by 16 points from veteran centre Pau Gasol.
In other Group B action, Argentina and Lithuania showed why they will both be tough to beat in the knockout phase, with Lithuania, now 3-0, emerging 81-73 victors.
In one of the better-played contests so far, forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas had 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting as the big and quick Lithuanians disappointed a deafening crowd of Argentine fans.
But there were virtually no fans on hand as Spain and Nigeria tipped off in the 16,000-capacity venue in Rio’s Olympic Park.
Security forces delayed fans entering to stage an apparent controlled explosion of a suspicious item just outside.
“We heard the explosion. We didn’t know exactly what it was. We just kind of looked around and said, ‘What’s going on?’” said Gasol.
“We thought maybe nobody came to watch the game.”
Spain also got a scare from the African underdogs, who led by a point after three periods, fueled by an eventual 13 three-pointers including seven from red-hot shooting guard Chamberlain Oguchi.
But balanced scoring down the stretch from Spain’s veteran Olympians helped them dodge a potentially fatal third loss.
Spain, number two in the world, was bridesmaid in the past two Games to the powerful USA squad of NBA stars.
“Nigeria just kept battling us, but we were able to get out of it. That was the first step in the right direction,” said Gasol, who moves from the Chicago Bulls to the San Antonio Spurs for the coming season.
Spain, 1-2, still must face both the tough Argentines and Lithuania in its remaining preliminary-round games. Nigeria dropped to 0-3.
Furious finish
Lithuania led Argentina 30-27 after a low-scoring first half, but it was a different story after that.
Manu Ginobili, a four-time NBA champ with the Spurs, scored 12 of his team-high 22 points in the first four minutes after the break and Argentina went on to grab a 42-40 lead.
Both sides continued to pour in the buckets and the score was repeatedly tied down the stretch as the vocal fans from neighbouring Argentina went crazy.
But the Lithuanians were too strong especially on the glass, grabbing 51 rebounds to 29.
“The game was tough and especially the crowd helped them a lot but we stayed focused. It wasn’t a panic and in the end we won,” said Kuzminskas.
An electric atmosphere awaits on Saturday when Argentina faces Olympic hosts — and longtime football rivals — Brazil, which upset Spain earlier in the week.
Brazil will be smarting after losing 80-76 in the day’s early game to Croatia, which was led by Bojan Bogdanovic’s 33 points.
The United States is overwhelming favorite to take a third straight gold medal and opened by routing China and Venezuela.
But Australia made them work for a 98-88 win Wednesday that dented their aura of invincibility.
The Spain-Nigeria game was unaffected by the security scare and spectators were allowed in soon after the detonation. Arena officials declined comment.
There have been at least three controlled explosions of suspect items in Rio since the Olympics started. One was near the finish line of the cycling road race on Saturday. — AFP
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