Slovenia shows door to Aussies at worlds
Slovenia's Samo Udrih (L) and Australia's Brad Newley fight for a loose ball during their FIBA Basketball World Championship game in Istanbul on Sunday. (Reuters)
Published: Sep 5, 2010 23:43 Updated: Sep 6, 2010 00:05
ISTANBUL: Australia's world basketball championships campaign came to a bone-shuddering end on Sunday when they were crushed 87-58 by Slovenia in the last 16.
Australia were slow out of the blocks, failing to score a point in the opening six and a half minutes of the game as Slovenia broke out to a 9-0 lead.
Although they would manage eight points before the end of the quarter they still faced a big task to get back into the game finding themselves down 16-8.
With halftime approaching, the physicality of the Slovenians was beginning to frustrate the Australians who were shooting at just 22 percent from the floor for the first half, failing to land any of their 3-point attempts.
The half-time buzzer could not come soon enough for Australia with Slovenia ahead 42-21.
Portland Trailblazers' Patrick Mills along with Matthew Nielsen were the best of the Australians, each claiming six first half points.
Nielson was also leading all rebounding efforts with five while Jako Lakovic led Slovenia with 11 points.
Following the break Australia's shots finally began to fall but unfortunately for them, the baskets continued to drop for the Slovenians, offering the Australians little hope of forcing their way back into the game.
With a quarter left to play Slovenia's lead extended to 71-45.
Australia were unable to pick up the intensity in the final quarter as they fell even further behind on the scoreboard and were thoroughly beaten.
Mills continued to be the main scoring contributor to Australia's along with Joseph Ingles who both finished with 13 points. Nielson scored 12.
Lakovic ended the game as leading scorer with 19 points while Milwaukee Bucks' Primoz Brezec also chipped in with 12 points.
On Saturday night, Juan Carlos Navarro had 22 points as Spain beat Greece 80-72. The Spaniards made eight of 18 three-pointers and used a 13-3 run in the fourth quarter to push ahead.
Greece closed it to 72-68 with 1:01 left in the game on a layup by Vasileios Spanoulis, but Ricky Rubio answered with two made free throws. Navarro hit four free throws and Sergio Llull made a layup to seal it for the Spain, which has beaten Greece seven consecutive times.
“It was very a tough game for us,” Rubio said of a game which drew 15,000 to Sinan Erdem Dome. “Obviously it was not easy. We have faced some similar problems before with teams like Lithuania because they play very physically and tough.” Lithuania finished undefeated in five first-round games, including a win against Spain.
Rudy Fernandez of the Portland Trailblazers scored 14 for Spain. Dimitrios Diamantidis and Nikolaos Zisis each had 16 points for the Greeks. Diamantidis, who helped Greece defeat the US in the semifinals of the 2006 Worlds in Japan, afterwards announced his retirement from national team play.
Spain built a 37-31 going into halftime as Greece missed all three of its three-point attempts.
