Basketball: Spain beat Italy in 2nd round of World Cup

By Emre Asikci

ANKARA (AA) - Spain punched their ticket to the quarterfinal, beating Italy 67-60 in the second round of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup on Friday.

In the match played in China's Wuhan city, Denver Nuggets forward Juancho Hernangomez was the top player for the Spanish team, scoring 16 points.

In addition, Rick Rubio produced 15 points, while Rudy Fernandez helped his team five points, five assist and five rebounds.

Danilo Gallinari scored 15 points for Italy. The Oklahoma City Power forward also made five rebounds.

Fenerbahce Beko player Luigi Datome produced 12 points against Spain but Italy couldn't avoid the loss in Wuhan.

In another Group J match, Serbia thrashed Puerto Rico 90-47 in Wuhan.

Nemanja Bjelica produced 18 points and six rebounds for Serbia while Puerto Rico's top scorer was David Huertas with 11 points.

In the 17-35 Classification Round game on Friday, China -- the host country -- defeated South Korea 77-73 in Guangzhou.

For China, Ailun Guo scored 15 points and made five assist, as Sunhyung Kim helped South Korea with 14 points and five rebounds.

Friday's results:

Second Round

Poland - Russia: 79-74

Serbia - Puerto Rico: 90-47

Argentina- Venezuela: 87-67

Spain - Italy: 67-60

Classification Round 17-32

Nigeria- Cote d'Ivoire: 83-66

Angola- Iran: 62-71

Tunisia- Philippines: 86-67

China- S. Korea: 77-73