Greece's Antonios Fotsis (left) and Panagiotis Vasilopoulos guard Argentina's Andres Nocioni during their men's quarter-final yesterday. Argentina won the thriller, 80-78. - AP

BEIJING (AP):

KOBE BRYANT scored 25 points yesterday as the United States advanced to the Olympic men's basketball semi-finals with a 116-85 victory over Australia.

The US will play defending champions Argentina tomorrow for a spot in Sunday's gold medal game. The Argentines beat Greece 80-78 in a quarter-final victory watched from behind the baseline by Bryant and members of the US coaching staff.

The Americans pulled away late in the second quarter and blew it open early in the third to move two wins from their first gold medal since 2000. Patrick Mills had 20 points for Australia.

Hard fouls

"Early in the game, they made a lot of tough shots," US point guard Chris Paul said. "We were doing what we were supposed to be doing and they made tough shots, but sooner or later we'll impose our will. I don't know if you can keep up with us for 40 minutes," he said.

Showing no fear of the Americans, the Australians delivered hard fouls and attacked the basket instead of settling for jump shots. They trailed by just a point after a quarter and five more than halfway through the second - and would have been closer if not for missing four easy shots in the half.

In the end, though, the Australians were worn down by relentless pressure from the US. "I think they're going to be very, very, very tough to beat," Australia coach Brian Goorjian said.

Earlier, Pau Gasol scored 20 points to lead world champions Spain to a 72-59 win over Croatia. Lithuania, bronze medallists at the 2000 Sydney Games, meanwhile, eliminated the hosts in their quarter-final, beating China 94-68.

10 rebounds

Lithuania play Spain in another semi-final tomorrow.

Felipe Reyes scored 13 points for Spain, while Toronto Raptors point guard Jose Calderon added 10. Gasol, who plays with the Los Angeles Lakers, shot 73 per cent from the field and grabbed a game-leading 10 rebounds. Marko Banic had 15 points to lead Croatia.

In what may have been China's final game with coach Jonas Kazlauskas at the helm, Sarunas Jasikevicius scored 23 points to lead Lithuania, while Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming put in 19 for China.

The result matches China's best-ever finish in an Olympic basketball tournament, setting the stage for a major rebuilding effort ahead of qualifying for the 2012 London Games.