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  Rio 2016: Croatia trip up Spanish charge

Rio 2016: Croatia trip up Spanish charge

AFP
Published : Aug 9, 2016, 2:38 am IST
Updated : Aug 9, 2016, 2:38 am IST

Argentina’s centre Roberto Acuna and Nigeria’s power forward Ike Diogu go for a rebound in their men’s Group B basketball match at the Carioca Arena 1 in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. Argentina won 94-66. (Photo: AFP)

Argentina’s centre Roberto Acuna and Nigeria’s power forward Ike Diogu go for a rebound in their men’s Group B basketball match at the Carioca Arena 1 in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. Argentina won 94-66. (Photo: AFP)

Spain’s bid for a third consecutive trip to the Olympic men’s basketball finals suffered a severe setback on Sunday, while hosts Brazil took hope from a failed rally against Lithuania.

Croatia upset second-ranked Spain 72-70 as Dario Saric blocked Pau Gasol’s game-tying attempt at the final buzzer and Lithuania held off Brazil 82-76 as Group B preliminary round play began. There was no rally in the other opener as Argentina ripped Nigeria 94-66 behind Facundo Campazzo’s game high of 19 points and five assists and Luis Scola’s 18 points and game-high eight rebounds.

Croatia and Spain exchanged leads six times in the final minutes, the last time coming when Krunoslav Simon stole the ball from Sergio Rodriguez and made a layup to put Croatia ahead 69-67.

Simon added two free throws to stretch the margin, Nikola Mirotic answered with a 3-pointer for Spain and Saric added a free throw to create the final margin. However, Saric’s most telling impact was still to come when the Philadelphia 76ers bound power forward blocked two-time NBA champion Gasol’s last-ditch effort.

“It’s always nice to block a big player, a big name in Euro basketball like Pau Gasol,” Saric said. “This is the cherry on the cake, my block, because this team deserved this win because this team fights all the game.”

Spain had been talking of a third chance against the American collection of NBA stars in the Rio final. Now they might be in a fight to be one of four advancing from the group.

Next for Spain is Brazil, which is fifth but just behind the Spaniards in the early table. A loud crowd kept Brazil going as the hosts nearly erased a 30-point deficit before falling to Lithuania.

Location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro