ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Argentina finished in fifth place of the 2010 FIBA World Championship after winning over Spain 86-81 to open the last day of competition at the Sinan Erdem Dome.

In the first quarter the Argentinean attack was more fluid, led from the perimeter by Carlos Delfino and Pablo Prigioni while Luis Scola and Fabricio Oberto controlled the paint area. On defense they pressured the basketball, and took advantage of those turnovers. The first quarter ended 23-16 in favor of Argentina as Delfino led with 8.

After not making a three pointer in the first quarter (0-5), the Spaniards continued with their problems from long distance to make a possible comeback more difficult. It wasn’t until Rudy Fernandez made one with 3:12 left to put the score 38-26.

Argentina already enjoyed good perimeter shooting and answered with a three by Delfino and after another one by Fernandez, Prigioni gave his team an 18 point lead with another long distance shot (47-29). Delfino gave Argentina their biggest lead, 49-29, after two free throws with 40.2 seconds left and at the half the score was 49-32.

Argentina continued to pull away after two three pointers by Carlos Delfino, to have a 59-34 lead, then Spain started to put some full court pressure on the ball and forced many turnovers which sparked a run to take themselves into the game again.

An 18-0 run led by Rudy Fernandez and Fernando San Emeterio had them down 61-60 with 1:38 left. Then a basket by Scola and two free throws by Oberto gave Argentina more comfort as they closed the third quarter up 65-62.

Then in the final ten minutes Argentina went to Scola in order to try to run away again but the Spaniards reacted quickly with three pointers by Fernandez and Garbajosa to stay close. An incredible alley-oop from Ricky Rubio to Fernandez had Spain down 75-73 with 5:28 but Leo Gutierrez responded with a three pointer to extend the advantage. Spain sent the ball inside to Marc Gasol who converted two free throws to have them down 80-79 and then one more to tie it at 80 with 2:11.

After a basket by Scola and many empty trips by the former World Champions, Pablo Prigioni broke any chance for a Spanish miracle with a three pointer with 15.5 seconds (85-81) and then a free throw with seven seconds left.

Delfino led Argentina with 27 points while Scola had 22 points and Prigioni 17.

In the loss Rudy Fernandez had 31 points (5-7 3pt) and Marc Gasol finished with 16 points.

To see complete highlights of the game, plus interviews with Spain forward Jorge Garbajosa and Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez go to FIBATV.com.

Quotes:
Sergio Hernandez (Head Coach, Argentina): After the Lithuania game, we promised ourselves to have the two best games of the tournament and we did. Everyone likes results but we were one of the best teams in the tournament, in all games except Lithuania we had the ball to secure the win or get the win.

Luis Scola (Forward, Argentina): The best thing about this team is the effort that we put in, we worked hard and despite some flaws we continued to work in order to improve each game. We did a better job defensively, especially on the zone and offensively on attack.

Rudy Fernandez (Guard, Spain): The first half we played bad, with no concentration, and they played good. After that we were more aggressive and the mentality was good, we made more shots, but we didn't win. It was a great competition, but when we arrived in Turkey we wanted to compete for the gold medal. Right now we have got to forget about this tournament and think about next summer.

FIBA

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