Argentina, Spain romp into hoops World Cup semis

Argentina steamrollered into the basketball World Cup semifinals with a spectacular 9787 win over Serbia, which was among the tournament favourites, and was joined by 2006 champion Spain, which overpowered surprise package Poland 90-78 on Tuesday.

The Argentines will lock horns with either the United States or France, who meet in Wednesday’s opening quarter-final, while the Spaniards will take on the winner of the Australia-versus-czech Republic clash.

Playmaker Facundo Campazzo sank 18 points and racked up 12 assists while evergreen 39-year old centre Luis Scola scored 20 points as Argentina picked Serbia apart with a barrage of fast breaks and lethal long-range shooting.

Argentina nailed nine three-pointers in the opening half and kept piercing Serbia’s defence inside the arc, as Campazzo drove past his markers almost at will and dished out passes like confetti.

A Marko Guduric three-pointer briefly gave Serbia a 70-68 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Argentina roared back with a 14-3 run that put the game out of reach.

Patricio Garino scored 15 for the winners, Gabriel Deck added 13 and Luca Vildoza chipped in with 11, while Bogdan Bogdanovic scored a game-high 21 for Serbia.

Denver Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic carried Serbia’s first-half effort with 14 points, but netted only two after the break.

Serbia coach Aleksandar Djordjevic, who won the 1998 World Cup with the former Yugoslavia as a player, heaped praise on the Argentines.

Spain, which brushed Serbia aside 81-69 in their final second group stage match, was forced to work hard by a battling Polish side, but its deep roster made the difference.

Juancho Hernangomez counted 12 of his 14 points during a frantic three-minute spell in the second quarter and his brother Willy hit some clutch shots in the last five minutes after Poland had slashed a double-figures deficit to 76-72.

Playmaker Ricky Rubio led Spain with 19 points, Willy Hernangomez added 18 and 34-yearold guard Rudy Fernandez sank 16, having buried all his five shots from three-point range.

Rubio also amassed nine assists, which made him the all-time World Cup leader in that department with a total of 115.