It was a scintillating Day 8 in the 2016 Rio Olympics Men’s Basketball tournament as Spain notched its second straight win, while Argentina survived a double OT thriller against Brazil, and Nigeria upset Croatia.
*The following also appears on FIBA.com.
ARG over BRA, 111-107
Argentina needed two overtimes but eventually beat their great rivals Brazil, 111-107, on Saturday to clinch a place in the Quarter-Finals of the Olympic Basketball Tournament.
The tournament hosts charged back from an 11-point deficit early in the second quarter to lead by as many as 10 midway through the third and looked to be closing in on victory with 2:40 remaining when the outstanding Nene powered his way up for a lay-up and an 83-75 advantage.
Facundo Campazzo made four free-throws and a shot from beyond the arc in a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to one.
After Marcelo Huertas took the lead back up to 85-82 with two foul shots, Brail did not foul Argentina to prevent them from attempting a game-tying 3-pointer. Instead, they knotted the game a few seconds from the end when Andres Nocioni's attempt from the left corner bounced high off the rim and fell through the hoop.
At the end of the first overtime, with Campazzo's superlative play keeping Argentina in the hunt, Raul Neto missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer.
In the second overtime, Campazzo made back-to-back three-pointers at the start and Patricio Garino scored as well to put Argentina on their way to a famous triumph.
Nocioni, who made 8 three-pointers - including the one to force the first overtime - recorded a national team career-high 37 points and 11 rebounds. Campazzo finished with 33 points and 11 assists. He was 5-of-10 from long range and also led Argentina with 4 steals.
ESP over LTU, 109-59
Spain may have prepared for a tough game against Lithuania on Saturday but they sure didn't get one.
Instead of having to sweat out a nervous 40 minutes as they had in their previous three encounters - two of them losses - Pau Gasol and Co. cruised to a 109-59 victory.
Felipe Reyes came off the bench and dominated the offensive glass early on to set the tone for a resounding win and finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds.
NGR over CRO, 90-76
Nigeria earned their first win at the 2016 Olympic Basketball Tournament by pulling off the biggest upset to date in the competition with a 90-76 defeat of Croatia on Saturday night.
With the victory, the African champions improved to 1-3 to keep alive their hopes of advancing to the Quarter-Finals. Croatia, meanwhile, dropped to 2-2.
Croatia led 28-21 at the end the first quarter but Nigeria outscored them 22-11 in the second to take a 43-39 half-time lead. Michael Umeh hit 5-of-8 three-pointers for 16 first half points.
Nigeria's hot shooting from long range continued in the third quarter as they hit 4-of-7 attempts and saw their lead reach 50-35 when big man Ike Diogu connected from beyond the arc.
An 8-0 run spanning the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth enabled Croatia to cut the deficit to single digits, 70-61. They would get within 74-71 on a Bojan Bogdanovic free-throw with 4:14 left to play but down the stretch Josh Akognon and Ebi Ere hit clutch three-pointers to secure the impressive win.
To say that three-point shooting was a big part of Nigeria's win is an understatement. They shot 17-of-36 (47 percent) from beyond the arc. By comparison, they were 13-of-32 (41 percent) inside the arc.
The trio of Umeh, Akognon and Ere combined to shoot 13-of-21 from long range.
All images are from FIBA.
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