RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) The Spanish men’s basketball avoided elimination with a 92-73 win against Argentina on Monday, climbing out of a 0-2 hole to start the Olympics and advance to the quarterfinal round of the Rio Games.
The two-time defending silver medalists (3-2) are the No. 2 seed in Group B and faces Group A No. 3 France (3-2). With Spain’s win, Brazil was eliminated.
Spain fell behind 8-0 to start the game, but regrouped to take a 22-11 first-quarter lead that it never gave up. Rudy Fernandez score 10 straight during the 22-3 scoring run and finished with 23 points.
The Argentines (3-2) seemed to play with a sense of urgency only in spurts and never got within 10 points in the second half.
Argentina already had a quarterfinal berth in hand. Nicolas Laprovittola paced Argentina with 21.
