Senegal make history with first Quarter-Finals appearance, Argentina down Turkey at buzzer

RIGA / DAUGAVPILS (Latvia) - Senegal made history at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2021 by reaching the Quarter-Finals for the first time while Argentina won their Round of 16 on a thrilling buzzer-beater at the buzzer and Serbia needed all it could handle against Japan.

Senegal overpowered Latvia to become the second African nation following Mali in 2019 to reach the top eight. Argentina meanwhile had Gonzalo Corbalan step up big time in the crunch time to beat Turkey. Serbia for their part continued their struggles but got past Japan. 

The other games saw Spain oust Australia while United States and Canada remained on a collision course for a possible Semi-Finals match-up and France and Lithuania also cruised to a victory.

Senegal 57-44 Latvia

 
Summary: Senegal made history as they defeated Latvia to reach the Quarter-Finals for the first time. Despite missing all 14 of their three-pointers and not having leader Ibou Dianko Badji, Senegal were too strong defensively, holding Latvia to just 25.4% shooting and improving on their previous showings of 15th and 16th places.

Game Heroes: Baye Abdou Ndongo filled in for Badji with 12 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 4 blocks while Dahaba Magassa added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

They Said: "I feel great. Something that nobody in your country has ever done - we were the first ones. We did it for the country." 
"We did it for (Badj). Everything we did we did it for him. It was kind of hard but it’s just basketball and we did it without him" -Senegal power forward Baye Abdou Ndongo 

Argentina 76-74 Turkey

 
Summary: Argentina booked their ticket to the Quarter-Finals by defeating Turkey on a buzzer-beating three-pointer off the glass. After Furkan Haltali hit two free throws with 3.4 seconds left to give Turkey the lead 74-73, Gonzalo Corbolan went the length of the court and heaved in his three-ball to put Argentina in the final eight for the just the second time since 2011.

Game Heroes: Corbalan not only scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half but he hit two huge shots. Before the buzzer-beating three-pointer, he converted a layup with 8.2 seconds before Haltali's foul shots.

They Said: "Thank god that last ball went in. It was a tough game and we are so happy. We are a really good team. We play together and we're really happy we got the win.” -Argentina guard Gonzalo Corbalan

  Serbia 89-86 Japan

 
Summary: Serbia once again struggled but got the job done, fending off a resilient Japan to reach the Quarter-Finals. Serbia led by 11 points but needed Nikola Jovic to come through late.

Game Heroes: Jovic scored 15 of his game-high 28 points in the final 6 minutes including three three-pointers.

They Said: "We were just playing bad defense the whole game. They scored a lot of points and we played bad. In the end, the team believed in me and I took some shots." - Serbian forward Nikola Jovic

Spain 86-73 Australia

 
Summary: Spain used a big third quarter push to earn a ticket to the Quarter-Finals by knocking off Australia - thanks in large part to controlling the glass including 15 offensive rebounds.

Game Heroes: Ruben Dominguez collected 24 points, 5 rebound and 3 assists while Jeffrey Godspower chipped in 6 points and 11 rebounds.

They Said: "This is a difficult tournament with tough teams and big guys. We are a smaller team and we have to play hard and get rebounds. We are always working on rebounding because we know we need it to win. ." -Spain center Jeffrey Godspower

France 86-52 Mali

 
Summary: France turned up the defense in the second half and used a 24-6 third quarter to run away from Mali and lock up a spot in the Quarter-Finals for the sixth time in six appearances. 

Game Heroes: Jayson Tchicamboud paced five France players in double figures with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists.

They Said: "(In the third quarter) We came out strong and we knew it would be a tough game and we knew we would have to secure the rebounds. We did the job and now we are in the Quarter-Finals." -France power foward Clement Frisch

Lithuania 96-53 Iran

 
Summary: Lithuania avoided any slip-ups and rolled past Iran into the Quarter-Finals, giving up just nine points in the first quarter.

Game Heroes: Every Lithuanian scored while Azuolas Tubelis led the way with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

They Said: "We made it look easy but it's difficult to play against every team in this tournament so we are happy to get the win and onto the next one.." -Lithuania guard Liutauras Lelevicius

Canada 86-56 Puerto Rico

Summary:  Canada remained undefeated as they rolled past fellow FIBA Americas side Puerto Rico, giving up just eight points in the first quarter.

Game Heroes: Elijah Fisher and Caleb Houstan both scored 14 points to lead Canada while Ryan Nembhard added 13 points, 4 rebounds and 10 assists.

They Said: "We were working on our rebounds. In the first couple of games we were getting killed on the offensive boards. So that was our main focus. We worked on that at practice, we made it an emphasis and it's paid off in the last few games.” -Canada guard Ryan Nembhard

USA 132-60 Korea

 
Summary: United States remained undefeated with a comfortable win over Korea, leading 31-17 after 10 minutes and never giving the Asians a chance. 

Game Heroes: Eight Americans scored in double figures, paced by Chet Holmgren with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.

They Said: "Today’s game we just worked on taking care of the ball. That was a big point of emphasis after the Australia game. We had way too many turnovers. We struggled with their press. We came into this game just wanting to take care of the ball." -USA forward  Patrick Baldwin

FIBA