Argentina, Spain reach Cup semifinals
DONGGUAN, China — Luis Scola scored 20 points, Facundo Campazzo finished with 18 points and 12 assists and Argentina earned its first trip to the World Cup semifinals in 13 years by ousting Serbia 9787 in a quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday.
Patricio Garino added 15 for Argentina (60), which will face either the U.S. or France in Friday’s semifinals.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 21 points for Serbia (42). The team came into the tournament fully expecting to win gold — after losing title games to the U.S. at the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, then rolling to wins in its first two games in China by a combined 105 points.
Bogdanovic’s 3pointer with 1:20 left got Serbia within 9185, capping a spurt that came with AllNBA center Nikola Jokic on the bench. But Campazzo’s jumper on the next possession pushed the lead back to eight, Serbia threw the ball away seconds later and the blueandwhiteclad Argentine fans in the stands knew it was time to celebrate.
Scola was 26 the last time Argentina was in the Final Four of the World Cup, then called the world championship. A mere 13 years later, he’s headed back to the medal round at FIBA’s biggest event.
Nemanja Bjelica scored 18 and Jokic finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for Serbia.
Argentina led most of the way, lost the lead briefly on the first possession of the fourth quarter when Marko Guduric made a 3pointer for Serbia — which the winners answered with a 196 run over the next 6 minutes.
The Dongguan half of the bracket is simply loaded — far more so than the half in Shanghai, the other quarterfinal site.
SerbiaArgentina pitted the world’s fourth and fifthranked teams, respectively, against one another. On Wednesday in Dongguan, it’s the No. 1ranked U.S. against No. 3 France.
SPAIN 90, POLAND 78
SHANGHAI — Ricky Rubio scored 19 points, including a pair of 3pointers in a gamedeciding 110 run in the final minutes, and Spain advanced to the World Cup semifinals by topping Poland 9078 on Tuesday night.
Willy Hernangomez scored 18 points, Rudy Fernandez added 16 and Rubio had a gamehigh nine assists for Spain (60), which had been beaten in the quarterfinal round of the last two World Cups — by France in 2014, and by Serbia in 2010 when the tournament was still called the world championship.
But Spain broke through this time, and will face either Australia or the Czech Republic in the semifinals at Beijing on Friday.
A.J. Slaughter scored 19 points and Adam Waczynski finished with 15 for Poland (42), which is assured of finishing no worse than eighth at its first appearance at the World Cup since 1967.
Poland got within 7672 on a layup by Waczynski with 5:42 remaining, but Spain pulled away over the next three minutes. Hernangomez’s threepoint play got Spain’s run started, Rubio then made his 3s about 90 seconds apart and Marc Gasol found Victor Claver for a dunk with 2:41 left that made it 8772.