London, England – Tiago Splitter scored 21 points to lift Brazil to a 67-62 win over Great Britain in men's basketball.
Marcelinho Huertas added 13 with eight assists in the victory, which gave the Brazilians a 2-0 record in Group B and kept them tied for the top spot with Spain and Russia -- both winners earlier on Tuesday. Brazil will face Russia on Thursday.
Splitter, who plays for the NBA's San Antonio Spurs, made 9-of-11 shots and the Brazilians did most of their damage inside. They connected on just 3-of-22 shots from three-point territory and made 57 percent from inside the arc.
Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who played collegiately at George Washington, led the host nation with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Nate Reinking also scored 13, while Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls had a tough shooting day. He made just 3-of-13 from the field and finished with 12 points in Great Britain's second defeat of the London Games.
Deng's three-pointer with four minutes remaining gave Britain a 57-56 lead, but Splitter countered with the go-ahead bucket on the next trip and Mensah- Bonsu missed inside. Marquinhos Vieira Sousa then drilled a three-pointer to give Brazil a 61-57 lead.
The Brits came up empty again on two straight possessions and Nene Hilario added a bucket on the break to make it a six-point game with 90 seconds to play. Britain could only pull within five from there.
Brazil got off to a very slow start and trailed 11-4 after the first quarter, but tied it at 27-27 by halftime. The Brazilians opened a 48-43 advantage after three and Anderson Varejao's basket to start the fourth quarter gave Brazil its largest lead of the contest.
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