Day 5 of FIBA Recap 2010

        Team USA kept their perfect record intact with a 37-point route of Iran, earning the top overall seed in the knockout round of the World Championships. Coach Krzyzewski didn't play any player more than 21 minutes as all 12 members got on the score sheet in Wednesday afternoon's 88-51 victory.

        In just 11 minutes of play, Kevin Love scored 13 points to lead the team in the category, while also corralling 6 rebounds; Kevin Durant was 5-for-7 from the field, scoring 12 points. The Americans will now play the fourth place team in Group A which will likely be Australia or Angola.
       
        Hamed Haddadi of the Memphis Grizzlies scored a game-high 19 points, but did so on an extremely inefficient 7-of-22 shooting. Arsalan Kazemi, one of the most underrated freshmen in college basketball last season at Rice.

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        Spain bounced back from a letdown against Lithuania by defeating Lebanon by 34 points, 91-57. Marc Gasol scored 25 points and Fran Vasquez added in another 15 points to lead the team. Ricky Rubio had another underwhelming performance, going 0-for-6 from the field, en route to zero points, but he did chip in 7 assists without turning the ball over.

        Russia had three starters reach double figures and another two off the bench hit the mark as Team Russia pulled away from China with a strong fourth quarter to lock up the 89-80 win. Sergey Monya scored a team-high 17 points, all but two points coming from behind the arc on three-point shots. Monya dominated the perimeter, opening up the lane for former-Kansas Jayhawk, Sasha Kaun who finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Their dynamic outside-inside play was enough to hold off China's Yi Jianlian, who finished with 14 points and 9 rebounds.

        After a low-scoring first quarter, Serbia and Australia put on an offensive show as the team's combined to score 145 points in the final three periods. In the end, it was Australia's inability to knock down perimeter shots that had them fall behind with no way of coming back. The starting lineup for Australia shot 15-for-39 or 38% from the field, while collectively Serbia had two players that made nearly as many field goals as Milos Teodosic and Novica Velickovic combined to shoot 12-for-26 in the game. Serbia also received a nice boost off the bench, tallying 48 bench points.

        The 3-1 Greece team routed the Ivory Coast (0-4) 97-60. They led 47-19 at the halfway point and 81-38 at the end of the third, before slowing down the attack in final period.

        Turkey remained undefeated in one of the Tournament's closer contests, edging Puerto Rico 79-77. Former Virginia Tech star, A.D. Vassallo showcased his perimeter shot, knocking down five 3s and finishing with a game-high 19 points, but that was not enough for Turkey's balanced offensive attack. Four Turkish players hit the double-figure mark led by Hedo Turkoglu with 16 and Ersan Ilyasova's double-double.

        Argentina's hot-start gave them a 16-point lead to end the first quarter as the team never looked back. Luis Scola is gunning for the most outstanding player award as he racked up another double-double, 30 points and 13 rebounds. Carlos Delfino was firing away from downtown all game long, finishing with four 3s and 18 points.

        In the day's most anticipated action, Brazil's second fourth quarter comeback fell just short as Slovenia edged Brazil 80-77. The South American squad had no answer to Jaka Lakovic who drilled six 3s, scoring 20 total points or Primoz Brezec, who was a near-perfect 7-for-8 from the field to finish with 16. Argentina's Tiago Splitter battled inside en route to scoring 19 points, but failed five times out of eight from the foul line, leaving too many opportunities unconverted.


By Chris Andrews