Canada surges past Australia to remain undefeated, advancing to men's basketball quarterfinals
Canadians to face Spain in final group stage match on Friday at 11:15 a.m. ET
Resilience and a bounceback second-half effort drove Canada's men's basketball team to a huge win on Tuesday that propelled it into the quarter-finals.
RJ Barrett had a game-high 24 points as Canada improved to 2-0 in group play at the Paris Olympics with a 93-83 victory over Australia in Lille, France.
The victory, combined with wins by France and Germany on Tuesday, guarantees Canada a spot in next week's quarterfinals. The final games of the preliminary round will determine their opponent.
The seventh-ranked Canadians next face second-ranked Spain (1-1) on Friday at 11:15 a.m. ET. Canada defeated Spain to advance into the FIBA World Cup quarterfinals and qualify for the Paris Games last summer.
After a first half that saw Canada get outscored 30-16 in the paint, the Canadians turned things around.
"Just the resiliency and how relentless this group is," Canada head coach Jordi Fernandez said. "The way they fought in that second half, we were not playing great defensively in the first half. I think we came back with a purpose in the third quarter.
"We did a great job, 22 deflections in the second half, only 16 points in the paint allowed and that ignited our offence. The way we can run the floor, we scored a lot out of their turnovers."
Barrett added seven rebounds, five assists and two steals in the win, which put Canada in a strong position to advance to the quarterfinals.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks added 16 points each. Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort each had three steals for Canada, which scored 28 points off of 18 Australian turnovers, with 15 of those points coming in the third quarter alone.
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"Starts with the defence, starts with the ball," Fernandez said. "Once again, Lu Dort was amazing, Dillon was amazing. I think Khem Birch gave us great minutes, Dwight [Powell] with nine rebounds.
Josh Giddey led Australia (1-1) with 19 points, 18 of which came in the first half.
After making a stepback mid-range jumper for Canada's first basket, Gilgeous-Alexander made his way to the bench after picking up a quick second foul just 1:44 into the game.
However, Canada held its own in a back-and-forth opening frame that saw six lead changes and four ties with Australia ahead 28-26 by the end of it.
After Giddey opened the second quarter with a three, Gilgeous-Alexander and Dort led Canada on a 7-0 run to take the lead 2:30 into the frame.
3rd-quarter run
Australia didn't let Canada get too far as a Giddey floater with seven seconds left gave the Aussies a 49-45 edge going into halftime thanks to outscoring Canada 30-16 in the paint over the first two quarters.
Canada went on a 17-5 run in the third quarter to take a 66-56 lead, capped by a pair of Barrett free throws with 3:58 remaining.
Australia returned fire, though, with a 6-0 run capped by a questionable missed call for offensive interference made it a four-point game with 2:59 left in the quarter. An Australian player appeared to touch the ball as it was in the hoop but Canada's challenge was rejected.
Canada held a 72-70 lead after three quarters.
Barrett hit a corner three to make it a 9-2 Canada run with 5:09 remaining that prompted an Australia timeout in the fourth quarter. Jamal Murray followed with a layup almost a minute later to give Canada its largest lead, 83-72.
Canada led by at least seven points the rest of the way, with Brooks capping the scoring with a three-pointer with three seconds left.
"We got stops, we got rebounds — and consecutive stops," Brooks said of his team's second-half showing. "That's the key in this game, you get consecutive stops and you're able to score, that's when you make a run.
"And then, they're hitting every shot in the first half, they were hot, they were playing together, confident. We stayed poised, stayed together, made a couple adjustments and we went on our run."
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France 94, Japan 90
After scoring his sixth consecutive point in overtime of France's dramatic 94-90 win over Japan at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, French star Victor Wembanyama couldn't help letting one go.
France got a game-tying four-point play by Matthew Strazel at the end of regulation, and Wembanyama scored eight of his 18 points in overtime. Strazel finished with 17 points to help France remain unbeaten in Group B play.
Rui Hachimura had 24 points for Japan before being ejected for his second unsportsmanlike foul early in the fourth quarter. Japan fell to 0-2 and is danger of being eliminated with one group-stage game remaining.
Spain 84, Greece 77
Santi Aldama had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Spain defeated Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece to earn its first victory of the Paris Olympics and remain in contention to advance to the knockout round.
Sergio Llull finished with 13 points. Spain improved to 1-1 in Group A with one group-stage game left to play against Canada.
Antetokounmpo had 27 points and 11 rebounds.
After losing their opening games on Saturday, Greece and Spain both came out essentially playing for their tournament lives, with the loser facing a must-win scenario on Friday — and likely lots of help — to have any chance of advancing.
That team is now Greece, which will meet Australia in its final chance to earn a victory before four teams' medal hopes end.
Germany 86, Brazil 73
Former Toronto Raptors guard Dennis Schröder scored 20 points to help reigning world champion Germany defeat Brazil 86-73.
Germany booked its place in the quarterfinals, moving to a 2-0 record.
With files from CBC Sports and The Associated Press
