Dream Team Pulls Away to Beat Spain 102-94

ATHENS, Greece – The U.S. men’s basketball team atoned for two preliminary-round losses with a big victory Thursday. The Americans wore down previously unbeaten Spain over the final minutes, pulling away for a 102-94 victory to advance to the semifinals.

The United States will play either Argentina or Greece on Friday. Those two teams play the late game Thursday, at 3:15 p.m. EDT. The other quarterfinal games pit Puerto Rico against Italy, and Lithuania – the only undefeated team left in the tournament – against China.

Stephon Marbury led the U.S. team with 31 points.

After the game, U.S. coach Larry Brown and Spanish Mario Pesquera got into a verbal confrontation, with Pesquera waving an index finger at Brown.

The Americans opened these Olympics with a loss to Puerto Rico, the first defeat for the U.S. team since it began using professional players at the 1992 Games, when the Dream Team, led by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird dominated. The Americans then pulled out closer-than-expected wins over Greece and Australia before losing a second time to Lithuania. They closed out group play by routing Angola.