SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico) - Italy made history on Tuesday with their win over Bahrain, achieving the biggest margin of victory in the modern history of FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. The Europeans' 61-point edge (114-53) came on the heels of a similarly bloated victory by Spain earlier in the day (104-59) over Lebanon in Valencia.
Danilo Gallinari and Nicolo Melli scored 14 points apiece and five other teammates finished in double digits on a night where Italy shot 60 percent from the field, made 11 three-pointers in 27 attempts and dished 39 assists on 45 made baskets.
The 114 points scored against Bahrain also puts Gianmarco Pozzecco's side third in single-game scoring leaderboard, just behind Greece (119 points in 2008) and Slovenia (118 points in 2021). Bahrain are No. 71 in the FIBA World Ranking Presented by Nike and were making their debut in Olympic Qualifiers. These are the five biggest margins of victory in modern OQT history, since 2008:
FIBA