U.S. edge Turkey, Canada eliminated
from World Cup
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[September 04, 2019]
BEIJING (Reuters) - Holders
United States ground out a dramatic 93-92 overtime win against
Turkey in the basketball World Cup while Canada were knocked out
after a 92-69 drubbing by Lithuania on Tuesday.
The day's rip-roaring action also produced the first two upsets of
the 32-nation tournament in China as Brazil shocked Greece 79-78
while the Dominican Republic stunned Germany 70-68.
Turkey came agonizingly close to staging the shock of the tournament
but missed four successive free throws in the final 10 seconds of
the contest before Chris Middleton sank both his shots from the foul
line with two 2.1 second left.
The Americans were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief after
Turkish forward Ersan Ilyasova's off-balance shot on the buzzer fell
short.
A demolition looked likely after the United States raced into a 10-2
lead but the Turks roared back and kept breathing down their
opponents' necks before they nosed ahead 81-79 with 12 seconds left
in regular time.
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Jayson Tatum hit two of three free throws to force overtime, where
Turkey appeared to have done enough after a blatant foul by Joe
Harris with 10 seconds left gave them four successive free throws
when they were 92-91 ahead.
Much to the disbelief of their bench and the Shanghai crowd who
roared Turkey on from the start, Dogus Balbay and Cedi Osman missed
all their shots from the foul line before Middleton forced the final
twist.
Having suffered a 108-92 defeat by Australia, the Canadians left
themselves no chance of progressing after they were torn apart by a
rock-solid Lithuanian side.
Lithuania never looked back after winning the first quarter 24-14
and built on that lead against a disjointed Canada, whose coach Nick
Nurse suffered a painful exit after steering the Toronto Raptors to
the 2019 NBA title.
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Khris Middleton of the U.S. celebrates with teammates after the
match REUTERS/Aly Song
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Six Lithuanian players ended in double scoring digits to wipe out a
valiant solo effort by Canada's Kyle Wiltjer, the game's top scorer
with 24 points.
Greece face a decider against New Zealand to advance from their
preliminary pool while Brazil booked their last-16 berth after
Anderson Varejao racked up 22 points and nine rebounds for the South
American side.
The Greeks missed a chance to force overtime as Kostas Sloukas
missed one of three free throws with two seconds left while Giannis
Antetokounmpo, last season's most valuable player in the NBA regular
season, was held to 13 points.
New Zealand kept alive their hopes of advancing with a 93-83 defeat
of Montenegro as Corey Webster scored 25 points and towering center
Isaac Fotu added 20, while Australia breezed to an 81-68 victory
over Senegal.
The Czech Republic will battle it out with Turkey for a spot in the
second group stage after an 89-76 win against Japan while France
hardly broke sweat in a 103-64 rout of Jordan.
Serbia, the tournament favorites alongside the United States, face
Italy in Wednesday's standout fixture.
The top two teams from each of the eight preliminary pools will
advance to the second group stage.
(Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic; Editing by Toby Davis)
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