Spain, Angola join Argentina to advance at Worlds
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-22 08:27 Spain took a revenge victory
over Germany by 92-71 while Angola cruised to the third straight win by
thrashing New Zealand 95-73 in the Group B matches of the 15th Men's Basketball
World Championships in Japan on Monday.
Olympic champion Argentina advanced into the last 16 as well with a 96-54 win
over Venezuela from Group A. (Click for details)
No matches in Group C and D was played on Monday while the Group A and B
contenders will take a day off on Tuesday.
Guard Jose Manuel Calderon had 20 points and six assists when the Spaniards
shot 11-out-of-18 in three-pointers to beat the German.
Dirk Nowitzki was held to only 14 points out of a 5-9 shooting by Jorge
Garbajosa, who had 12 points on the other end of the court.
Juan Carlos Navarro added 19 points and Paul Gasol 16 for Spain, who revenged
their loss at the semi-final of the European championship and at the
quarter-final of last world championship to Germany.
Eduardo Mingas scored 27 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Angola went
through along with Spain.
Nigeria built a 17-4 lead early and never lost control of the game when it
played real defence for the first time on the world-level competition.
"I am so satisfied. My players worked hard and listened to the coaches. We
all played very passionately on the defense, and that was important," said
Angola coach Alberto Carvalho.
Joaquim Gomes added 20 for Angola when New Zealand was led by 17 points from
Pero Cameron.
In Monday's other matches, host Japan scored the first win of the
Championship by beating Panama 78-61. France grabbed the second place of Group A
by defeating Nigeria 64-53, while Serbia & Montenegro crushed Lebanon
104-57.
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