Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — With little room for error, the Spanish men's basketball team absolutely throttled Lithuania 109-59 Saturday to keep its medal hopes alive. Spain, which won silver at the last two Olympics, lost two of its first three games and desperately needed a win — and it still might need help from other teams to advance to the quarterfinals.
Pau Gasol scored 23 as Spain was near perfect in the third quarter, shooting 12 for 14 from the field, including six 3-pointers. Gasol jump-started the second half with three triples as Spain hit 16 3-pointers.
Mindaugas Kuzminskas scored 17 for Lithuania, which never led but had already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals.
Spain will have an eye on Brazil-Nigeria Monday afternoon since Brazil (1-3) holds the head-to-head tiebreak if the two teams finish group play with the same record. The Spaniards play Argentina (3-1) and will advance with a win.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.