Australia turns back upset bid by Lebanon in FIBA World Championship opener

David Andersen had 22 points, including two late free throws, and Australia survived the upset bid of Jordan, 76-75, in a Group A game at the FIBA World Championship tournament in Turkey.

Center Alex Maric had 23 points and nine rebounds for Australia, which didn’t take its first lead until the end of the third quarter.

Rasheim Wright had 16 points for Jordan but he missed a layup in the final seconds.

Serbia 94, Angola 44

Aleksandar Rasic scored 22 points for Serbia, which played without two of its best players. Center Nenad Krstic was suspended for three games by FIBA and guard Milos Teodosic was suspended for two for their roles in a brawl against Greece in a warmup tournament earlier this month.

Olimpio Cipriano led Angola with 10 points.

GROUP B

Slovenia 80, Tunisia 56

Goran Dragic, Steve Nash’s backup with the Phoenix Suns, had 16 points and eight assists to lead Slovenia, which was 9 of 13 from the field in the first quarter.

Radhouane Slimane had 11 points for Tunisia, which is making its first appearance in the world championships.

GROUP C

Greece 89, China 81

Nikolaos Zisis and Ioannis Bourousis both scored 21 points to lead Greece.

Yi Jianlian of the Washington Wizards had 26 points to lead China, which closed within 81-79 but got no closer.

Russia 75, Puerto Rico 66

Sergey Monya scored 16 points to lead Russia’s balanced attack. Timofey Mozgov, a 7-foot-1 center who signed with the New York Knicks this offseason, and Sasha Kaun both added 13 points for Russia.

Jose Juan Barea of the Dallas Mavericks scored 25 points for Puerto Rico.

GROUP D

Lithuania 92, New Zealand 79

Linas Kleiza scored 27 points and Paulius Jankunas added 15 for Lithuania, which took off with a 10-0 run in the second quarter.

Kirk Penney had 37 points to lead New Zealand.

Lebanon 81, Canada 71

Fadi El Khatib, known to his countrymen as “The Tiger,” scored 31 points to lead Lebanon. The 6-foot-6 El Khatib was 5 of 5 from the field and scored 16 points in the third quarter. Matt Freije, a former All-SEC player at Vanderbilt, hit a 3-pointer that gave Lebanon the lead for good at 66-64 with 4:58 to play.

Joel Anthony had 17 points for Canada.