Slovenia, Puerto Rico & Greece complete the field for the 2nd round at basketball World Cup
Slovenia, Puerto Rico and Greece picked up victories Wednesday at the basketball World Cup to complete the field of 16 teams for the second round.
Slovenia defeated Cape Verde 92-77, led by 19 points from NBA star Luka Doncic. Puerto Rico routed winless China 107-89 behind 22 points from former NBA player Tremont Waters. Greece defeated New Zealand 83-74 with 27 points from Ioannis Papapetrou.
Earlier in the day, Serbia, Georgia and Brazil also reached the second round. Serbia defeated South Sudan 115-83 with 25 points from 20-year-old Nikola Jovic. Georgia topped Venezuela 70-59 behind 25 points from Tornike Shengelia. Brazil beat Ivory Coast 89-77 with Yago Santos scoring 24 points and adding 12 assists.
10 teams had already advanced: the Dominican Republic, Australia, Italy, Spain, the United States, Canada, Germany, Lativa, Lithuania and Montenegro.
GROUP F -- SLOVENIA 92, CAPE VERDE 77
At Okinawa, Doncic led Slovenia (3-0), as he has throughout the tournament, with 19 points, seven rebounds and nine assists to guide the team into the second round. Right behind was teammate Klemen Prepelic with 18 points, four rebounds and seven assists.
Cape Verde (1-2), which has played far better than most expected, was led by Betinho Gomes with 17 points and Kenneti Mendes with 10.
GROUP B -- PUERTO RICO 107, CHINA 89
At Manila, Waters had 22 points and six assists as Puerto Rico advanced. Puerto Rico had six players in double digits.
Ismael Romero scored 18 points and added 10 rebounds for Puerto Rico (2-1). Puerto Rico joined Serbia as the teams to progress from Group B.
Zhao Rui scored 16 points for winless China (0-3). Minnesota Timberwolves sixth-man Kyle Anderson, who picked up Chinese citizenship days before the tournament opened, scored nine points in 31 minutes.
GROUP C -- GREECE 83, NEW ZEALAND 74
At Manila, Papapetrou scored 27 points and teammate Giannoulis Larentzakis hit 20 as Greece (2-1) advanced. The United States won the group and also qualified.
Greece broke the game open in the final quarter, outscoring New Zealand 33-20 with Papapetrou and Larentzakis consistently scoring key baskets late.
Shea Ili led New Zealand (1-2) with 27 points and Reuben Te Rangi scored 19.
GROUP G -- SPAIN 85, IRAN 65
At Jakarta, Juancho Hernandezgomez had 21 points and his brother Willy scored 16 to lead defending champion Spain (3-0), which had already advanced to the second round. Santiago Aldama added 11.
Brazil is the other qualifier from the group.
Iran (0-3) was led by Mohammad Amini with 19 points.
GROUP B — SERBIA 115, SOUTH SUDAN 83
At Manila, Jovic shot 9 of 9 from the floor as Serbia (3-0) beat South Sudan (1-2) to reach the round of 16. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 23 points and nine assists.
Jovic and Bogdanovic combined for 18 points in the first quarter as Serbia led 30-20 and steadily built its lead.
Peter Jok scored 21 points for South Sudan but Chicago Bulls guard Carlik Jones had just three points in 22 minutes.
GROUP F — GEORGIA 70, VENEZUELA 59
At Okinawa, Shengelia scored 25 points and Goga Bitadze had 11 points and 11 rebounds as Georgia advanced.
Georgia, which is playing for the first time in the World Cup, led 42-23 at the half as Venezuela (0-3) scored only four points in the second quarter.
Nestor Colmenares had 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead Venezuela. Jose Materan added 12. Both teams struggled from 3-point range. Georgia was 5 of 23 and Venezuela was 6 of 25.
GROUP C — UNITED STATES 110, JORDAN 62
At Manila, Anthony Edwards scored 22 points and Bobby Portis Jr. chipped in 13 for the United States (3-0) to wrap up the group stage with an easy victory over Jordan (0-3). Josh Hart led the Americans with 12 rebounds.
Former NBA player Rondae Hollis-Jefferson led Jordan with 20 points and seven rebounds. The United States faces Montenegro on Friday in the second round.
The U.S. improved to 8-0 overall this summer, counting five exhibitions played on the way to Manila.
They’re one of three teams that won all three group games by at least 20 points — joining Group H winner Canada and Group D winner Lithuania.
GROUP G — BRAZIL 89, IVORY COAST 77
At Jakarta, Yago Santos scored 24 points and added 12 assists and Brazil (2-1) advanced into the second round, a bounce back after not qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. Tim Soares added 15 points for the winners.
Brazil went 14 of 31 from 3-point range.
Cedric Bah led Ivory Coast (1-2) with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
