BEIJING, Sept. 13-- Team Spain survived two thrilling overtimes to beat Australia 95-88 on Friday at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup semifinal, making into the World Cup final for the second time in the team's history after winning title in 2006. Spain continued their winning streak in China with the victory. The 34-year-old veteran Marc Gasol made all of his eight free-throw attempts to score a team-best 33 points. Sergio Llull made 17 points, including two three-pointers in the second overtime. Ricky Rubio added 19. Rubio started the game with a three-pointer and Spain was once leading 5-0. Australia fought back with jump shots from Joe Ingles and Patty Mills. Australia was more efficient on field goal percentage but Spain did a little better on three-point shooting. Spain closed the first quarter 22-21 after Sergio Llull hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer. Playing without Rubio and Gasol, Spain had difficulty on offense at the beginning of the second quarter. Australia delivered a 6-0 run as Spain's head coach Sergio Scariolo called a time-out. Rubio returned to the court and made a jump shot after the time-out, but Australian shooters made full use of fast-break chances to expand the lead to eight points. Australia then missed a couple of shooting attempts, allowing Spain to cut the deficit to 47-42 by the end of the first half. Australia maintained their tough defense in the second half to broaden the gap to 11 points. Spain survived the crisis thanks to big shots from Llull, entering the final quarter with a four-point deficit. |