FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019: Scores and highlights from Day 5

Kyle Irving

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FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019: Scores and highlights from Day 5 image

Day 5 of the FIBA World Cup Group Stage saw four countries closing out this part of the tournament with a perfect record. It also had two games with "survive and advance" implications, with two teams picking up must-win victories to keep their medal hopes alive.

Two more countries – Puerto Rico and Venezuela – have solidified a spot in the Second Round of the tournament. With 14 of the 16 spots in the Second Round finalized, it will come down to a pair of matchups tomorrow to secure the last two spots when Turkey takes on Czech Republic and Greece goes head-to-head with New Zealand.

If you missed any of the action, we have you covered below with scores and highlights from each contest!

Angola 84, Philippines 81 (OT)

In a game where no matter the result both teams were destined for the Classification Round, Angola edged Philippines in overtime.

Philippines had a chance to send the game into a second overtime at the buzzer but the shot was off the mark.

Valdélicio Joaquim led Angola with 20 points on an efficient 6-for-10 shooting from the field to go with seven rebounds. Andray Blatche helped keep Philippines close with 23 points, 12 rebounds and four steals.

Poland 80, Cote d'Ivoire 63

Poland advances to a perfect 3-0 record in the Group Stage after another commanding win.

It was a balanced scoring attack as Adam Waczynski (16 points), Damian Kulig (14 points) and Mateusz Ponitka (12 points) all finished in double figures to help secure the win. Poland shot a solid 56.4% from the field and 42.9% from beyond the arc.

For Cote d'Ivoire, Charles Abouo's 23 points (10-16 FG, 2-3 3PT) was a team-high.

Nigeria 108, Korea 66

Nigeria defeated Korea by a massive margin in a contest where both teams were headed to the Classification Round no matter the result.

Micheal Eric (17 points) and Ike Diogu (16 points) led Nigeria in scoring but Chimezie Metu's 15 points and nine rebounds played a key role in the win as well.

For Korea, RA Guna – who's the tournaments second leading scorer with 22.7 points per game – continued to fill it up with 18 points in the loss.

Puerto Rico 67, Tunisia 64

In a game where the winner advances to the Second Round and the loser heads to the Classification Round, the result didn't disappoint.

With the game tied at 64 and only five seconds remaining Puerto Rico's Gary Browne stepped up in a big way, knocking down the 3-pointer that would send his team to the next stage of the tournament.

On the next possession, Puerto Rico came up with a huge stop and rebound to bounce Tunisia out of the World Cup.

Renaldo Balkman's 14 points and nine rebounds led the way for Puerto Rico, but along with the game-winning 3-pointer, Browne dished out eight assists and grabbed four boards to help his team advance.

For Tunisia, only seven players competed in the contest with four players scoring in double figures. Their star player Salah Mejri had 14 points and nine rebounds, but missed the potential go-ahead 3-ball with 25 seconds remaining.

Serbia 92, Italy 77

Serbia's dominance of the World Cup continues as they earned a decisive victory over a solid Italy squad. With the win Serbia takes Group D with a perfect 3-0 record, but Italy still advances with a 2-1 record.

Bogdan Bogdanovic – the World Cup's leading scorer with 24.0 points per game – was unstoppable in this massive win. He went for 31 points shooting 6-for-11 from beyond the arc with five assists, five steals and four rebounds. Nikola Jokic, who has hardly had to break a sweat so far in this tournament, went for 15 points, six rebounds and four assists.

For Italy, Danilo Gallinari did his best to keep up with Bogdanovic by scoring 26 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field.

Venezuela 72, China 59

In the second win and advance game of the day, Venezuela knocked off the host-team China to move on to the Second Round.

It was a team effort for Venezuela with four players scoring in double figures and every player on the roster aside from one finding their way to a bucket. Heissler Guillent led all scorers with 15 points while also dishing out a game-high eight assists for Venezuela.

They dominated China on the glass, out-rebounding them 49-28 and doubling their offensive rebound total 20-10. The home court rims were not nice to China, who shot 33.3% from the field and 21.9% from beyond the arc.

Argentia 69, Russia 61

In a battle between two 2-0 teams, Argentina came out on top to win Group B.

It was a low scoring affair as neither team shot well from the field or beyond the arc. Russia actually shot the ball better from the field than Argentina – 44.4% to 33.9%, respectiviely – but Russia's 21 turnovers were too much to overcome.

Aside from the turnovers, Argentina's aggressiveness in attacking the rim to get to the free throw line also played a major factor in the win. Argentina shot 36 free throws, only converting 69.4% for 25 makes, but Russia only scored nine points by way of the charity stripe.

Facundo Campazzo's 21 points for Argentina led all scorers and Russia only had two players, Andrey Zubkov (18 points) and Nikita Kurbanov (13 points), in double figures.

Both teams will advance to the Second Round.

Spain 73, Iran 65

Iran entered this contest 0-2 but you wouldn't have been able to tell based on the result. They did everything they could to stop Spain from finishing the Group Stage 3-0 but came up just short in the end.

Marc Gasol's 16 points, six rebounds and three assists led Spain to victory, and this deep 3-pointer helped seal the win.


For Iran, Mohammad Jamshidijafarabadi was the team's leading scorer with 15 points.

Spain advances to the Second Round while Iran will head to the Classification Round.

Kyle Irving

Kyle Irving Photo

You read that wrong – not Kyrie Irving. From Boston, graduated from the University of New Hampshire. Sixth season as a content producer for NBA.com's Global editions. Covering the NBA Draft has become his annual "dream come true" moment on the job. Irving has a soft spot for pass-first point guards, with Rajon Rondo and Steve Nash being two of his favorite players of all time.