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Roundup Gaze, leads Aussies; France eliminates Canada
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Andrew Gaze is making his fifth Olympics his best. Gaze scored 13 of Australia's last 15 points Thursday to lead the host country into the semifinals of the men's basketball tournament with a 65-62 victory over Italy. The 35-year-old guard is the second-leading scorer in Olympic history to Oscar Schmidt of Brazil. None of the 757 points have been any bigger than the ones down the stretch against Italy, as Australia's hopes for a gold medal stayed alive despite losing a 10-point lead midway through the second half. "We still have a couple more to go but we're really where we want to be right now," said Gaze, who had 27 points on 7-for-10 shooting, including 4 for 5 from 3-point range. The last two of those 3-pointers started his game closing run to keep Australia either in front or within a basket. His three-point play when he scored on a flip shot down low brought Australia within 60-59 with 2:09 left. He made two free throws with 1:38 left to make it 62-61. When Italy's Carlton Myers missed a jumper as the short clock ran out, Australia got the ball to Mark Bradtke, who was fouled with 44 seconds to go. He made both free throws to give Australia a 63-62 lead and. following another missed shot by Italy, Gaze added two more free throws with 13 seconds to play. When Italy missed two shots on its final possession in an attempt to tie, the SuperDome went wild, and Australia advanced to the semifinals for third time. It finished fourth in Atlanta four years ago.
"When we lost that 10-point lead and the wheels started to fall off, we were lucky to hit some shots," Gaze said, although the pronoun should have been I. "More importantly, we got some big stops down the stretch. I made those two free throws, then Mark made the big ones that put us in front." Bradtke, a bruising power forward who finished with four points, couldn't stop smiling after the game. "All I did was focus on the back of the ring and nothing else," he said. "I just tried to make them. I admit it, I was scared." Australia will meet France, which beat Canada 68-63 in one semifinal. Australia (4-2) started these Olympics poorly, losing to Canada and Yugoslavia in its first two games before losing a 24-point second-half lead to Russia before rallying for its first win. Australia clinched its quarterfinal berth by beating Spain in the final preliminary round game. "When you think of the possibility of what lies ahead and it's here in Australia and the fans are going nuts,' Gaze said without finishing the thought. "Hopefully we can keep it going." Gregor Fucka led Italy (3-3) with 17 points, while Myers had 14. "We started well on defense but then Mr. Gaze did something I still can't come to terms with," Italy guard Andrea Meneghin said. Italy coach Bogdan Tanjevic said Gaze "saved his team from defeat when it was sinking in morale and he has done it more than once in this tournament." Gaze is averaging 21.2 points in the tournament and is 19 for 36 from 3-point range. Italy was making its first Olympic appearance since 1984 and was in its first semifinal since 1980, when it won the silver medal. France 68, Canada 63 France will be making its third trip to the semifinals, and first since 1956, after an outstanding defensive effort on Canada point guard Steve Nash. France will be shorthanded against Australia after starting forward Yann Bonato, the team's second-leading scorer at 9.7 points per game, injured his Achilles' tendon midway through the first half against Canada. Reserve forward Cyril Julian was bloodied in a scramble near the end of the game and may require stitches. "The great sense of joy is leveled by the injuries of two players, one very serious," France coach Jean Pierre de Vincenzi said. "I fear Yann's Achilles' tendon may be ruptured. We need to carry out more tests. Maybe this will motivate us even more." France (3-3) led 38-23 at halftime as Makan Dioumassi set the tone with his defense against Nash, arguably the most valuable player in the opening round of the tournament. Nash finished with 10 points, well below his 14.4 average, and was 4 for 12 from the field after shooting 43.2 percent in the first five games. But more importantly, Nash finished with nine turnovers, more than half the 17 he had in the entire preliminary round. Nash, who plays for the Dallas Mavericks, was spectacular in Canada's 83-75 victory over Yugoslavia that gave it first place in the pool with 26 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. "Everybody knew what Steve had done against Yugoslavia and they did a real good job of playing him tough and wore him down not only with one player but two or three every time he went through a screen," Canada coach Jay Triano said. "Their aggressiveness caused us to turn the ball over and take some poor shots." Laurent Sciarra had 17 points for France, which won its only basketball medal by finishing second in 1948, while Antoine Rigaudeau had 15. Todd MacCullouch had 23 points for Canada, which was trying to win its first medal since a silver in 1936. Lithuania 76, Yugoslavia 63 Lithuania came up with another impressive defensive effort to extend its Olympic semifinal streak while ending Yugoslavia's. Guintaras Einikis had 26 points and Sarunas Jasikevicius added 18 for Lithuania (4-2), which has reached the semifinals in all three of its Olympic appearances. Lithuania won the bronze medal in 1992 and 1996. Lithuania's tough man-to-man defense held Yugoslavia to 40.8 percent shooting (20-for-48), well off the 51 percent it had shot in the five preliminary round games. Lithuania, which held opponents to 38 percent in the opening round, went ahead 52-38 six minutes into the second half. Yugoslavia (4-2) then went on a 12-2 run over the next 51/2 minutes to get within 54-50. Jasikevicius and Einikis then scored Lithuania's next 11 points to get the lead back to 65-56 with 4:28 left and Yugoslavia was never closer then eight points the rest of the way. Predrag Stojakovic, who plays for the Sacramento Kings, had 20 points for Yugoslavia, which played without leading scorer Predrag Danilovic. Danilovic, who played for the Miami Heat, was kicked in the right leg in the last game of the opening round. He was dressed, but never entered the game. Yugoslavia had reached the semifinals in its last five Olympic
appearances. It won the silver medal in 1976, gold in 1980, bronze
in 1984, silver in 1988 and silver in 1996. Yugoslavia did not
compete in 1992.
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