Basketball New Zealand

Australia Emus captain Matt Dellavedova scored 15 fourth quarter points against Croatia (Photosport)

Paulo Kennedy, FIBA
The games just keep getting better at the FIBA U19 World Championship, and now the quarter finalists have been set.

Friday at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland, New Zealand will see the eight best U19 teams in the world battle it out for a place in the medal rounds.

The match-ups for the knockout quarter finals on Friday, 10 July are:

* Greece vs Argentina, 1.30pm
* Australia vs France, 4.00pm
* Croatia vs Puerto Rico, 6.15pm
* USA vs Canada, 8.30pm

On day six, Australia remained undefeated and claimed top spot in Group F with a stunning 79-74 win over Croatia in the game of the tournament to date.

A large and vocal crowd saw Matthew Dellavedova score 15 final quarter points as the Australians extended a one point lead at the last change to win by five. Dellavedova scored 17 for Australia, and was helped by Cody Ellis (14 points), Mitchell Young and Brock Motum (both 10).

For Croatia, Toni Prostran and Tomislav Zubcic both scored 14, while Ivan Batur (12 points), Dino Butorac (11) and Leon Radocevic (10) all contributed.

The USA took out top spot in Group E with a hard fought 76-69 win over Lithuania. With only four points the margin at three-quarter time, Tyshawn Taylor scored three acrobatic scoop shots in the final four minutes to give the USA the margin they required.

He finished with 13 points and four assists and received support from Klay Thompson (10 points, seven rebounds, three assists), Darius Miller (10 points) and John Shurna (9) in a once again even spread for the Americans.

For Lithuania, Donatas Motiejunas (12 points) and Dovydas Redikas (11 points, eight rebounds, three assists) joined the outstanding Tautvydas Slezas (21 points) in double figures.

Slezas also secured 12 rebounds as Lithuania won the rebound count 45-31, but missed out on a quarter final spot.

Greece narrowly avoided elimination when they nailed four crucial free throws to hold off a fast finishing France. Greece led 60-40 at three quarter time before France unleashed a furious 13-3 streak to close the gap to 10 points.

Jonathan Bourhis nailed his fourth three-pointer for the game to reduce the margin to 67-72 with 0:32 to play, before Greece secured the win from the free-throw line.

Stars for Greece were Nikolaos Pappas (20 points, eight rebounds, four assists), Leonidas Kaselakis (18 points, nine rebounds) and Kostas Sloukis (17 points, five assists). For France, Bourhis collected 18 points and five rebounds and Christophe Leonard recorded 13 points and eight rebounds.

Canada showed great composure down the stretch to defeat Argentina 67-57 and set up a quarter final match-up with their North American rivals, the USA.

In the decisive third quarter, Mangisto Arop (18 points) and Cory Joseph (20 points, 9/15 fg) led the way for Canada, with a long range buzzer beater from Typhoon Nurse making the score 54-45 at three quarter time.

While Argentina repeatedly challenged in the final term, Canada ran down the clock intelligently and recorded an impressive victory. Lisandro Rasio (14 points, seven rebounds) and Luciano Gonzalez (12 points) were solid for Argentina.

Puerto Rico did as expected and defeated Egypt, 99-71, to move through to the final eight. Mike Rosario bounced back from a poor game against the USA to score 22 points in 20 minutes of court time, while Raymond Cintron had his best game of the tournament with 17.

For Egypt, Adham Mohamed Elsayed (17 points, 3/6 3pfg) and Amro Sherif Abdelhalim (22 points, four rebounds, three assists) put in strong performances, and will be looking to do so again as their team competes for positions 9-12 on Friday and Saturday.

While Spain recorded a comprehensive 101-71 win over a depleted Kazakhstan, the European power will also be playing off in the classification round, with their 17-point defeat to Argentina on Monday leaving them last in a three way tie with the Spaniards and Canada.

Against the Kazaks, Jorge Santana was the star of the day, nailing 6/6 from the perimeter on his way to 26 points, while Toni Vicens continued his strong tournament with 11 points.

While Alexandr Tyutyunik, Pavel Illin , Rustem Tuleu (all 12 points) and Alexandr Zhigulin (13 points, eight rebounds) all enjoyed productive offensive moments for Kazakhstan, the Asian runners up were never at home against the Spanish pressure defence.

With six games on Friday, including four quarter finals on FIBA TV, the FIBA U19 World Championship is building towards a dramatic conclusion.