Day
5 (Preliminary Round 2) - Sep 3, 2002
- by
Yarone Arbel Group E
Puerto Rico - Spain 73-65 Puerto Rico: Ayuso 9, Raymond
Dalmau 6, Hourruitiner 7, Ortiz 9, Santiago 4;
Antonio Latimer (204-F/G-78, college:
Missouri
Southern) 18,
Carlos Arroyo (188-G-79, agent:
Mc Candless William, college:
Florida
Intern.) 18, Christian Dalmau 2 Spain: Rodríguez 5, Navarro 11,
Jiménez 9,
Pau
Gasol (214-F-80, agent: Termini Mark) 16, Garbajosa 9; Marco 5,
Junyent, Angulo 6, Alfonso Reyes 2, Paraíso 2
All stats
Peurto Rico is a real Black Horse of the tournament. Despite Spain is
way higher ranked on the international market, tonight they had to
give up on motivated Puerto Ricans.
Yugoslavia - Brazil 90-69 Yugoslavia: Vujanic 10,
Predrag Stojakovic (207-F-77, agent:
Capicchioni Luciano) 19, Gurovic 15, Koturovic 2, Divac 7;
Tomasevic 6, Jaric 2, Rakocevic 10, Drobnjak 5, Bodiroga 10, Cabarkapa
4, Radmanovic Brasil:
'Marcelinho' Machado (200-F/G-75, agent:
Capicchioni Luciano) 15, Ferraciu 4, Klafke 11, Sandro Varejao 12,
Anderson Varejao 6; Giovannoni, Mazzuchini 9, Splitter 4, Filho,
Araujo 2, Barbosa 2, García 4
All stats
Yugoslavians had a lot to prove at this game, and they did not fail.
But Brazil was not able to challenge the top European team.
Turkey - Angola 86-66 Turkey: Kerem Tunceri 11,
Ibrahim Kutluay 23, Helmet Okur 17,
Mirsad
Turkcan (206-F-76, agent: Draskicevic Elmira) 26, Hidayet Turkoglu
2; Omer Onan 3, Kaya Peker, Hakan Koseoglu 2, Haluk Yildirim 2 Angola:Miguel
Lutonda (187-G-71) 16, Edmar Victoriano 12, Joaquim Gomes 6,
Carlos Almeida 3, Angelo Victoriano 2; Valter Monteiro 11, Walter
Costa 3, Victor Muzadi 4, Antonio Carvalho 9
All stats
Turkey started winning the games a little too late. But they had real
bad luck in the first games, where they were edged by their opponents.
Angola was way weaker team this evening and did not cause too much
troubles for Turkish players.
Group F
Argentina - Germany 86-77 Argentina: Juan Ignacio
Sánchez, Emanuel Ginóbili 12, Rubén Wolkowysky 11, Fabricio Oberto 11,
Hugo
Sconochini (188-G-71, agent: Ricciotti Antonio) 16; Luis Scola 2,
Andrés Noccioni 19, Leandro Palladino 3, Alejandro Montecchia 5,
Gabriel Fernández, Lucas Victoriano 7 Germany: Stefano Marco Garris
4, Mithat Demirel 5, Patrick Femerling 14,
Dirk
Nowitzki (211-F-78, agent: Geschwinder Holger) 21, Ademola Okulaja
7; Marko Pesic 6, Stephen Arigbabu 5, Misan Nikagbatse 10, Henrik Rodl
5
All stats
Latin American teams, especially Argentina and Puerto Rico are big
revelation of the tournametn. Argentina was always consodered as a
very strong team, but what they are showing so far at the WC
overpassed the best expectations.
Argentina defeated Germany 85-76 in the secound round of pool F.
Andrés Nocioni led the charge coming off the bench with a team high 19
points, and got a big help from Fabricio Oberto, who scored 5 crucial
points in the final minutes and swept away a shot from Patrick
Femerling that was bound to be a basket. Arigabu had put Germany
behind by only five points with less than three minutes to play by
scoring five cpnsecutive points but was benched to allow Dirk Nowitzky
who scored 21 points on 3/17 shooting from the field to get back in
the game.
The first quarter was celarly dominated by Argentina, thanks in great
parto to a 5/9 shooting from behind the arc and 16 points from Hugo
Sconochini.
The second and third quarters were really tied, with Argentina trying
to extend the lead and Germany answering with a run to prevent
Argentina to do so.
by Leonardo Contieri
Russia - China 95-68 Russia:Vasili
Karassev (192-G-71, agent:
Capicchioni Luciano) 21, Zakhar Pashutin 11, Avleev 8, Morgunov
18, Savrasenko 7; Khriapa 4, Bashminov 2, Panov 2, Chikalkine 5,
Kudelin 17, Evgueni Pashutin China: Nan 5, Xiaobin 3,
Shioiang 13, Weidong, Ming 11; Liu 9,
Bateer Meng (210-C-75, agent: Duffy Bill) 18, Fangyu 7, Ke, Feng 2
All stats
Russia did not have a very tough game. China could count only on their
centers, while guards and forwards were practically stopped by Russian
defense.
USA - New Zealand 110-62 USA: Pierce 20,
Michael Finley (200-G-73, agent: Thomas Henry, college:
Wisconsin)
20, Marion 16, A.Miller 11, A.Davis 9, B.Davis 8, Brand 6, R.Miller 5,
Lafrentz 5, Wallace 5, Williams 5, O'Neal New Zealand:Kirk
Penney (195-G-80) 16, Cameron 13, Jones 11, Flavell 7, Hickey 6,
Dickel 3, Book 3, Boucher 3, Henare, Rampton, Winitana
All stats
US team did not have any problems to win this game. New Zealand team
was not able to challenge Americans, without their injured leader
Marks.
15th - 16th Place: Algeria - Lebanon 100-70 Algeria: Ouali 2, Boughedir 20,
Benramdane 9, Mehnaoui 23, Doubal 30; Haif 4, Sayah 8, Boulaya 4,
Oukid, Belhimeur Lebanon: Khourin 16, El Khatib
22, Vogel 11, Fahed 2, McChantaf 10; El Boustani 5, Bardawil, Samaha
4, Makki
All stats
Not too many people expected Algeria to win that game. But African
champions got their first victory at WC and avoided the last place.
The Lebanon team's tumultuous journey to the 2002 World Basketball
Championships ended with a disappointing 100-70 loss to Algeria on
September 3.
Lebanon, which lost its head coach, John Neumann, on September 2,
finished winless in its first trip to the World Basketball
Championships.
"I just want to say that this game does not reflect our team," Lebanon
player Yasser Ahman El Hage said. "We have been through a lot of
problems, and the spirit of the team was just not there today. It will
be a bad memory for us to end the World Basketball Championships like
this."
At the beginning of the game, it seemed as though Lebanon may pull off
its first win, jumping out to an early lead, and holding off Algeria
for a 43-42 lead at halftime. However, the third quarter proved
detrimental for the Lebanon squad, which was outscored 34-15, giving
Algeria a 76-58 lead going into the fourth quarter.
"At half time we were all together in wanting to win this game,"
Algeria guard Milcud Doubal said. "Our spirit was very high going into
the second half."
According to El Hage, who was fighting the flu and did not play, said
it was Algeria's outside threats that spelled disaster for the Lebanon
team in the second half. Doubal caught fire, hitting 11-for-17 from
the field, including 6-for-10 from behind the arch, en route to a
30-point performance. Doubal also recorded nine assists, three block
shots and three steals for the Algerian team. Fady El Khatid paced the
Lebanon team with 22 points and six assists.
Algerian head coach Billal Faid said that it is the lack of size and
aggression that makes it difficult for teams like Algeria and Lebanon
to win against the European and United States teams.
"These are the reasons that the teams probably play one quarter really
well and another not so well," he said. "I think this is a problem for
both the Algerian and Lebanon teams."
Faid said that the one win means a lot to the Algerian team, because
it shows improvement throughout the tournament and it is motivation to
continue building a more competitive team in Algeria.
"We have been able to make good progress," Faid said. "I am happy with
the difference between the first game and today. We hope the
organization will get better, because the we can get more experience
against better teams in bigger tournaments — so then the team
can improve."
Lebanon (0-5) and Algeria, which was also competing in its first World
Basketball Championships, finished in 16th and 15th place,
respectively.
By FIBA (Laura Podolak) - Check more details at
www.fiba.com
13th - 14th Place: Canada - Venezuela 98-97 Canada: Titus Channer 12, David
Thomas 8, Kevin Jobity 7, Michael Meeks 20, Rowan Barrett 20; Richard
Anderson 6, Prosper Karangwa 13, Shawn Swords 5, Sherman Hamilton 1,
Stephen Ross 6 Venezuela: Yumervin Mijares 4,
Oscar Torres 11, Richard Lugo 15, Carl Herrera 10, Víctor Díaz 16;
Alejandro Quiroz 11, Carlos Morris, Pablo
'Marcelinho' Machado (200-F/G-75, agent:
Capicchioni Luciano) 10, Héctor Romero 16, Tomas Aguilera 4
All stats
That was a very nervous agme, especially in last minutes. but Canada
managed to edge Venezuela and take 13th position at the tournament.
Michael Meeks' driving basket gave Canada a 98-97 victory over
Venezuela to finish 13th in the World Basketball Championship on
Tuesday at Conseco Fieldhouse. Meeks' game-winner came with 7.9
seconds left.
Venezuelan Oscar Torres attempted a 12-footer before the buzzer, but
it hit the back of the rim, and he fell on his back as it bounced away
and time expired.
Meeks' shot marked the 11th lead change in the fourth quarter and the
17th for the game.
"We knew it was going to be a game where somebody had to gut it out at
the end," Canada coach Jay Triano said.
Canada reserve guard Shawn Swords added, "It was a matter of who was
going to have the ball at the end and who wanted it the most. We tried
to show that at the end."
Canada's leading scorers were forwards Rowan Barrett and Meeks with 20
points apiece. Prospoer Karangwa contributed 13 points and four
rebounds off the bench. Starting guard Titus Channer added 12 points.
Sherman Hamilton and Barrett each passed for five assists.
Venezuela was led by Hector Romero off the bench with 16 points. He
also grabbed five rebounds. Venezuela's bench outscored Canada's bench
51-31.
Romero was joined by six teammates in double figures. Victor Diaz
scored 16, Carl Herrera 10, Richard Lugo 15 with a game-high 14
rebounds, Oscar Torres 11 with 10 rebounds and seven assists; and
Pablo
'Marcelinho' Machado (200-F/G-75, agent:
Capicchioni Luciano) off the bench for 10 points and seven
rebounds.
"We started the game with no intensity,"
'Marcelinho' Machado (200-F/G-75, agent:
Capicchioni Luciano) said. "The third quarter was our worst of the
whole tournament. Canada played a good game and definitely hit their
shots.
Venezuela coach Jim Calvin said his team managed to fall behind early,
despite his frequent warnings. He was most disappointed with the
team's attitude during the tournament.
"We bicker, we don't eat together, we don't ride elevators together,"
said Calvin. "Until you trust each other, you don't deserve to win
championships."
Venezuela shot 2-for-17 from 3-point range, while Canada canned
7-of-19 from behind the arc.
The teams combined to commit 56 fouls. Venezuela hit 29-of-41 foul
shots, while Canada made 17-of-26.
By FIBA (Dan Habing) - Check more details at
www.fiba.com
