Basketball: Puerto Rico beat Tunisia in World Cup

By Emre Asikci

ANKARA (AA) - Puerto Rico defeated Tunisia 67-64 in FIBA World Cup after a big comeback performance to punch their ticket to the second round.

The Group C match in Guangzhou on Wednesday saw a resilient Puerto Rico side, as they refused to be eliminated, being down 59-64 with 4:54 to go.

The Caribbean country did not concede a single point for the 5 minutes of the game, and managed to take the lead with a 3-point shot by Gary Browne with 5.1 seconds to go.

The victory meant the second round group stage berth for Puerto Rico, as their top scorer was Renaldo Balkman with 14 points. David Huertas also helped his team with 10 points.

For Tunisia, point guard Omar Abada and NBA team Dallas Mavericks' center Salah Mejri scored 14 points, but could not avoid the defeat.

In the other Group C game, group leader Spain takes on already-eliminated Iran.

Tuesday and Wednesday's results:

Group A:

Cote d'Ivoire - Poland: 63 - 80 (Poland advances to second round)

Group B:

S. Korea - Nigeria: 66 - 108 (Both S.Korea and Nigeria eliminated)

Group D:

Angola - Philippines: 84 - 81 (Both Angola and Philippines eliminated)

Group E:

Japan - Czech Republic: 76 - 89 (Japan eliminated)

USA - Turkey: 93 - 92 (USA advance to second round)

Group F:

Brazil - Greece: 79 - 78

Montenegro - New Zealand: 83 - 93 (Montenegro eliminated)

Group G:

Jordan - France: 64 - 103 (Jordan eliminated, France onto 2nd round)

Germany - Dominican Republic: 68 - 70 (Germany eliminated, Dominican Rep. onto 2nd round)

Group H:

Lithuania - Canada: 92 - 69 (Lithuania advance, Canada eliminated)

Australia - Senegal: 81 - 68 (Australia advance, Senegal knocked out)