Day 5 in the 2016 Rio Olympics Men’s Basketball tournament had France nipping Serbia, the United States scrambling past Australia, and Venezuela notching win #1 at China’s expense.
*The following also appears on FIBA.com.
FRA over SRB, 76-75
Tony Parker shot France to a 76-75 victory over Serbia with a late jumper at the Carioca Arena 1.
Having scored just 4 points through the first 39 minutes and 29 seconds of the game, Parker buried the go-ahead basket with 31 seconds left to play and Bogdan Bogdanovic attempted to win for Serbia with a long three-pointer but his attempt rattled out.
Les Bleus, after an opening day defeat to Australia, have now won two straight while Serbia have fallen to 1-2.
Nando de Colo continues to supply scoring for France. He had a game-high 22 points.
USA over AUS, 98-88
The USA cleared their first major hurdle at the Olympics by beating Australia, 98-88, in a lively Carioca Arena 1.
After brushing aside China and Venezuela, the Americans encountered an unbeaten and very confident Australia team that led 54-49 at half-time with Pat Mills and Andrew Bogut scoring 14 points.
But Carmelo Anthony gave the two-time defending champions the scoring they needed and Kyrie Irving shifted into his FIBA Basketball World Cup MVP mode in the fourth quarter.
The USA shot 17 of 39 (44 percent) from beyond the arc and Anthony was an eye-popping 9-of-15. The four-time Olympian finished with a game-high 31 points. Matthew Dellavedova showed his quality for the Boomers with 11 points, 11 assists and 6 rebounds.
VEN over CHN, 72-68
Venezuela claimed their first win of the Olympic Basketball Tournament by beating China, 72-68, on Wednesday night.
The Americas champions led by as many as 15 in the first half but the Asian champions rallied after the break as the game went down to the wire.
Zhou QI scored two big baskets down the stretch, the latter one getting China within 64-63 with 1:22 to go. Nestor Colmenares scored the last basket of the game when he floated a shot over the outstretched arm of Yi Jianlian for a 66-63 advantage with 15.8 seconds. The contest then turned into a free-throw shooting procession and Venezuela did enough to hold on.
Off the bench, Colmenares finished with a team-high 16 points on a very efficient 8-of-11 shooting, to go along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Gregory Vargas was also productive, contributing 13 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds.
All images are from FIBA.
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