Battling Australia, who squeezed past Jordan in their world basketball championship opener, gave world No. 1 Argentina an almighty fright on Sunday before being edged out 74-72.
After an enthralling first three quarters, the two sides went point for point in the final period. Australia were ahead with 6 minutes, 30 seconds remaining, but when Louis Scola (31 points) sunk two free-throws with 8.8 seconds remaining it looked over for the Aussies.
However, Joseph Ingles (22 points) was on hand to knock in a missed three-pointer by Patrick Mills with 3.5 seconds remaining and Australia sensed they had a chance.
Argentina failed to clear the ball, giving Australia one shot with 3.1 seconds on the clock, but it was not to be for Australia with the final shot from Adam Gibson going astray.
In the other Group A game, Germany created the upset of day when they held off Serbia in overtime.
After cruising through their opening victory over Angola on Saturday, Serbia showed few signs of missing captain Nenad Krstic and Milos Teodosic, both currently suspended for their involvement in a brawl during a warm-up game against Greece, but Sunday was a different case.
Both teams held the lead for significant periods of the game, with neither able to gain significant ground over the other. In the end, the only thing that could separate the two teams was a period of overtime after the score was tied 69-69 at fulltime.
It was only a missed lay-up in the final five seconds by Serbia that saw Germany prevail 82-81.
In Group C action, China managed to secure their first victory of the tournament against Ivory Coast, winning 83-73. Yi Jianlian and Wang Shipeng combined for 51 points as Bob Donewald’s team scored timely baskets to end a number of big runs by Ivory Coast.
Turkey also created something of a surprise result, beating Russia 65-56.
In Group D, France continued on from their upset win over champions Spain by easily overcoming Lebanon 86-59. Spain were also able to record their first victory, defeating New Zealand 101-84.
The US continued their bid to return to world glory, with coach Mike Krzyzewski again giving his whole squad court time in their 99-77 victory over Slovenia. Brazil also continued their winning ways, holding off Tunisia 80-65.
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