MADRID Tyreek Hill Jersey , Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Spain claimed a convincing 82-63 win against a strong Brazil side on Monday to assure its place in the last 16 of the FIBA World Cup.
Against a side which has been tipped for a possible top-four finish, Spain, led once again by a magnificent Pau Gasol, gave its rivals no chance from the start, taking a 30-14 lead in the first quarter to stamp its authority on the game.
The Spanish power forward, who missed out on the last European Championships, showed his importance to his country with 26 points and nine rebounds to end up with a total value of 32 in a game where the entire Spain team looked to be reaching its peak form.
Spain now has three wins from three games and with matches against France and Serbia lying ahead, it looks odds on to finish the group stage with a 100 percent record.
France enjoyed a comfortable 94-55 Group A win over Egypt after a narrow win over Serbia and a narrow defeat to Brazil for its second victory of the tournament. The French have still to play Iran and Spain in order to make it through into the last 16.
Argentina won its second game of the World Cup as it defeated the Philippines 85-81, although the Philippines could have won the match as they had a higher percent on field goals (53-45 percent) and were also more effective in their perimeter shooting, netting 48 percent of their three point throws to 39 percent from Argentina.
The Philippines led 25-22 at the end of the first quarter, but Argentina's defense got on top and restricted them to just 13 points in the second period and led by 71-61 at the end of the 3rd period.
Gorgui Deng produced a colossal performance and scored 27 points to give Senegal a shock win over Group B favorites, Croatia.
Croatia had gone into its third Group B game after beating Argentina, while Senegal had taken a moral boosting victory, its first in a World Cup final stage since 1998, by defeating a fancied Puerto Rico.
Senegal used its inside play to great effect, but also had almost 50 percent efficiency on its three-point throws, while Croatia's guards had an off day outside of the zone, hitting only 7 out of 25 attempts at 3-points.
Meanwhile the Greeks were bearing no gifts in their 90-79 victory against Puerto Rica: after a tight first quarter, the Greeks began to show the potential of a side that has a good balance of youth and experience and they moved 17 points ahead in the next 20 minutes to seal a win in which Kostas Kaimacoglou was a powerhouse in their interior play.