Spain crush USA to claim fifth

The United States suffered another humiliating loss at the world basketball championships Saturday night, losing to Spain 81-75 to finish sixth at the event. It was a forgettable week for the United States, which saw its streak of 58 consecutive wins over 10 years when using NBA players come to an abrupt end.

Eurosport

Image credit: TNT Sports

The United States suffered another humiliating loss at the world basketball championships Saturday night, losing to Spain 81-75 to finish sixth at the event. It was a forgettable week for the United States, which saw its streak of 58 consecutive wins over 10 years when using NBA players come to an abrupt end.

After taking a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter Saturday, the Americans let another game get away from them, losing for the third time in four games. The Americans didn't trail in the game until Pau Gasol hit a pair of free throws with 52 seconds left, giving Spain a 77-75 advantage.

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Spain added another four points on free throws in the final minute while the Americans failed to score.

The game was played before yet another disappointing crowd at Conseco Fieldhouse. Crowds all week in Indianapolis have been sparse, with total attendance for the 11-day event not expected to reach 180,000 fans, 120,000 less than organisers had hoped for.

In other classification games, Puerto Rico (6-3) finished seventh by defeating Brazil (4-5) 91-84. The Puerto Ricans trailed by one point at half-time but rallied to win a game that featured nine lead changes and the game tied 11 other times.

Daniel Santiago had 19 points and 12 rebounds for the winners, while Raymond Dalmau added 18 points. Elias Ayuso chipped in with 16 points for Puerto Rico. Guilherme Giovannoni had 19 points for Brazil, while Anderson Varejao, Sandro Franca Varejao and Demetrius Ferraciu all added 13 points.

Turkey (4-4) wrapped up ninth place by defeating Russia (3-5) 91-86. The Russians, whose streak of 10 consecutive world championships with a medal snapped at this event, led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter and carried a 71-62 lead into the final quarter.

But the Turks out-scored Russia 29-15 in the final 10 minutes to leave the tournament with a win.

Angola (2-6) finished 11th thanks to a 96-84 win over China. Edmar Victoriano and Joaquim Gomes both had 17 points for the winners, who led by as many as 23 points.

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