Olympics | Serbia, Germany stumble into men's basketball semis

PARIS, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The basketball competitions of the Paris 2024 returned to the Bercy Arena on Tuesday, when the men's quarterfinals witnessed two comeback wins and one upset on the first day of the knockout stages.

World Cup finalists Serbia escaped with a 95-90 overtime win over Australia, world champions Germany came back from a lackluster start to beat Greece 76-63, while hosts France upset unbeaten medal favorites Canada 82-73. Only defending champions the United States had an easy 112-87 win over Brazil.

Nicola Jokic had an all-around game with 21 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists and four steals, while six Serbia players scored double-digit numbers to ensure a berth in the semifinals. Josh Giddey had 25 points for Australia.

Leading 44-20 at the beginning of the second quarter, Australia gave Serbia a huge mountain to climb for the rest of the match. Serbia needed only one and a half quarters to erase Australia's advantage, and usurped the lead by 61-60 midway in the third quarter.

Serbia were up 67-65 to start the fourth quarter, but never got away from their opponents as the scoreline was 82-80 in favor of Serbia with 9.8 seconds to go. Patty Mills, who scored 26 points, tied the game with a mid-range jumper to force an overtime.

The game was tied twice and the lead changed three times in overtime before Jokic's jumper opened up a 93-90 lead for Serbia with 25 seconds left in the game. Mills turned it over in Australia's following possession and saw their last chance gone.

Greece had a perfect start to lead by as many as 12 points in the first quarter, which ended 21-11, but Germany needed only one quarter to level it back at 36-36 before the break.

After several ties in the third quarter, Germany finally managed a 59-52 lead before the last 10 minutes. Dennis Schroder's three-pointer extended Germany's lead to 15 points on 72-57 with under two minutes left.

Top scorer Giannis Antetokounmpo, who averaged 27 points in the group stage, chipped in with 20 points for Greece. Franz Wagner led Germany with 18 points.

France led 26-10 at the start of the second quarter, and extended their lead to 45-29 at the end of the first half to take a dream start against Canada.

Canada spent the whole match trying to cut the lead, and got as close as 65-60, but Evan Fournier's three-pointer from mid-court ensured the victory for France, who led 76-66 with 55 seconds to go.

Guerschon Yabusele scored 22 points and Isaia Cordinier added 20 for France, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Canada with 27 points.

The U.S. had already built up a 63-36 lead in the first half, and Brazil showed no signs of challenging their domination in the second half.

Devin Booker scored 18 points and Anthony Edwards added 17 for the U.S.