AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- The United States, Croatia and Australia qualified for quarterfinals at the FIBA under-19 world basketball championships Tuesday when they won second-round matches to preserve their unbeaten records.
Australia beat top-ranked Argentina 76-65, the Americans beat Puerto Rico 82-61 and Croatia defeated Spain 91-72 to stretch their winning runs to five games and to become the first teams to clinch quarterfinals places.
Argentina, third-ranked Spain, Puerto Rico and Lithuania are now among teams needing to win their last second-round games on Wednesday to advance to the last eight.
Howard Thompkins III had 14 points and nine rebounds, Gordon Hayward 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals to help the United States ensure it will finish in top place in Group E.
The United States led 20-13 after a tight first quarter but gained a telling break when they outscored Puerto Rico 23-6 in the second period to take a 43-19 lead into halftime. Puerto Rico rallied to win the third quarter 21-17 and matched the United States in the last quarter but the break the United States had gained before halftime was too large.
A strong first quarter and miserly early defense carried Australia to a hard-fought win over Argentina, which managed only four points in the first nine minutes.
Argentina seemed out of the match, trailing 34-10 with Australia making 15 of 17 from the field but Matias Nocedal, its leading scorer at the tournament, reduced the margin to 10 points near half time.
Strong shooting from Luciano Gonzalez helped Argentina close to six points with a period to play but Australia's stout defense prevented them narrowing the margin further. Cody Ellis with 16 points and eight rebounds, played a large part in protecting Australia's lead and winning record.
Australia faces unbeaten Croatia Wednesday in a match which will decide top spot in Group F.
"We knew they were going to come out and be really physical with us, so we just had to come out and match that," Australia's Jason Cadee said. "We ... shot the ball well, ran, got them in foul trouble. We just came out ready to play really."
Croatia's trademark outside shooting gave it a critical edge over Spain. Croatia connected on 14 of 31 three-pointers, while Spain managed only one of 10.
Spain trailed 38-30 at halftime but dominated the third quarter, using a pressing defense to force six Croatian turnovers and scoring on transition to close to 59-58 at three-quarter time. Croatia then resumed its long-range bombardment, nailing four three-pointers in the last period to run out a comfortable winner.
Leon Radosevic scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Croatia while Dino Butorac scored 10 of his 16 points in the last period.
For Spain, Toni Vincens had 18 points and nine rebounds and Daniel Perez 15 points and five assists.
"Again, in the third quarter we played really bad, like all games, but in the fourth quarter we decided let's go, let's play our game," Croatia captain Mario Delas said. "It's going to be a great game [against Australia], because they play very beautiful basketball, nice to watch."
In other matches Tuesday, France beat Lithuania 95-78, Greece beat Egypt 100-59 and Canada beat Kazakhstan 108-70.
