Caracas, Venezuela, Jul 5: Lithuania and Nigeria joined Angola and Macedonia in advancing to the quarterfinals of the Olympic basketball qualifying tournament on Wednesday.
The four rounded out of the quarterfinal field after Greece, Puerto Rico, Russia and the Dominican Republic advanced on Tuesday.
Nigeria defeated Lithuania 86-80 in Group B. Derrick Obasohan led Nigeria with 20 points and Linas Kleiza had 22 for Lithuania.
The result eliminated Venezuela. The three teams in Group B each won one game, and lost one. The top two advanced on a better point difference.
New Zealand defeated Angola 68-64 but was eliminated from the tournament with Angola and Macedonia advancing to the quarterfinals from Group D.
The three teams in the group had a victory and a loss after two matches. Macedonia had a plus-18 point difference and Angola was even, but New Zealand was minus-18. Kai Webster led New Zealand with 21 points. Eduardo Mingas had 17 for Angola.
Also on Wednesday, Russia defeated the Dominican Republic 84-69 in Group C with 16 points from Andrey Kirilenko. Russia won the group with the victory while the Dominicans had already advanced to the quarterfinals.
Puerto Rico played Greece in a late match.The qualifying tournament fills the final three berths for the London Olympics.
The quarterfinals are Friday. Two teams will advance from Saturday's semifinals with the final spot awarded on Sunday.
Nine teams have already qualified for London: Spain, France, Argentina, Brazil, Britain, China, Australia, Tunisia and the United States.
