US, Argentina progress at U-19 basketall worlds as Australia surprises Spain

US into second round at U-19 basketball worlds

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Ashton Gibbs scored 18 points to help the United States beat Egypt 112-55 on Saturday, completing a sweep of pool games at the FIBA under-19 world basketball championships.

Shelvin Mack added 14 points and John Shurna had 13 points and six rebounds for the Americans, who finished ahead of France, Egypt and Iran in Group B of the 16-team tournament. Gordon Hayward had 10 points, six rebounds and five assists.

The U.S. led 33-11 after the first quarter and 62-24 at halftime. With the game out of reach, all 12 players saw court time in the second half.

The win followed a 106-55 victory over Iran and a 71-55 win over France, and put the U.S. into the second round beginning Monday.

In Group D, Luciano Gomez scored 16 points and Mathias Nocedal added 14 as top-ranked Argentina routed Kazakhstan 98-69 Friday to close in on the second round.

Ninth-ranked Australia upset third-ranked Spain 69-62 to move atop Group C, ensuring a spot in the second round. European champion Spain needed to beat Canada to have a chance of moving on. Canada, coming off a loss to Australia, is second in the group after beating Syria 99-53.

African champion Egypt beat Iran 95-91 in the first game at the tournament to go into overtime, after the teams were tied 84-84 at the end of regulation.

Kostas Papanikolaou had 25 points and Vlantimir Giankovits 24 for Greece, which topped Group A with a 107-98 win over Puerto Rico.

Croatia beat host New Zealand 79-72 to overtake Argentina on points differential in Group D, while Lithuania rebounded from a loss to Puerto Rico with an easy 104-46 win over Angola.