Argentina Beats Russia, Meets Spain For 5th Place

ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Argentina overcame some free-throw shooting woes to beat Russia 73-61 and will face Spain in Sunday’s 5th place game at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

Sergio Hernandez’s team made just 10 of 20 attempts from the foul line but overcame that thanks to the scoring punch provided down the stretch by Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino – who combined for 53 points on the night.

Russia got within 58-56 on Timofey Mozgov’s basket with 6:50 left to play, but he picked up his fourth foul 39 seconds later and had to go to the bench and eventually fouled out.

That played in Argentina’s favour as they outscored Russia 17-5 the rest of the way as Fabricio Oberto and Scola had more room to manoeuvre inside.

Evgeny Voronev buried a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 67-61 with just under two minutes to play, but Delfino answered with a long bomb of his own.

The loss means Russia will face Slovenia in Saturday’s 7th place game.

Scola, Oberto and Delfino quite literally did all the scoring as Argentina took a 15-11 first quarter lead.

Scola, who was held to 13 points on five of 16 shooting from the field in his team’s quarter-final defeat to Lithuania on Thursday, had eight points in the opening period alone, with Oberto adding four and Delfino three.

The Argentinians extended their advantage early in the second period, with Delfino burying a corner three and Herman Jasen scoring inside. They had their first double-digit, 22-11, when Luis Cequeira made a pair of free-throws.

Russia though fought back thanks to Sergey Monya’s shooting stroke, as he buried three three-pointers to cut the deficit to 23-20.

Delfino and Oberto answered right back to stretch Argentina’s lead back to seven, 27-20.

Russian point guards Sergey Bykov and Dmitriy Khvostov – forming a rarely used backcourt – provided timely baskets in the late stages of the second quarter. The former converted a three-point play to narrow the gap to 32-30 and the latter knocked down a long bomb with 3.7 seconds left to get within 34-33.

Scola had the last word, scoring inside just before the buzzer for 17 first-half points and a 36-33 advantage.

Delfino had five quick points at the start of the third quarter to bump the lead up to 41-33, before Anton Ponkrashov and Khvostov – both starting the second half – combined for six quick points and cut the deficit to 44-41.

Pablo Prigioni knocked down a deep three-pointer that gave Argentina some breathing room at 49-43, before Monya scored in the paint and then buried a long bomb from the corner that beat the shot clock and got his team within 49-48.

Delfino made a free-throw and the game was tied at 50 when Mozgov scored just inside the final minute of the period. Scola then made one of two foul shots.

Andrey Vorontsevich caught a lob off an inbound pass to give Russia their first lead of the night, 52-51, with nine seconds to go.

That left enough time for Leonardo Gutierrez who knocked down a three-pointer as time expired to give Argentina a 54-52 lead heading into the final frame.

Sasha Kaun and Viktor Khryapa did not play for Russia, while Hernan Jasen did not play in the fourth quarter for Argentina after picking up an injury.

FIBA.org