BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS: DAY 3 : DAILY REPORT : MEN’S BASKETBALL : Angola Rebounds Quickly to Give Germany a Scare

A day after losing by 68 points to the United States, Angola regrouped and almost beat Germany before missing the final two shots and losing, 64-63, in a Group A preliminary game.

Most of the crowd of about 7,000 supported Angola and seemed to be almost as disappointed as its players by the result. Detlef Schrempf of the Indiana Pacers led Germany (2-0) with 25 points and 15 rebounds, but the Germans were nearly undone by missing 17 of 36 free throws, four in the final four minutes. Angola (0-2) led, 42-36, at halftime, and there were 10 lead changes in the second half.

Later in the day, Satiago Aldana sank a free throw in the closing seconds to give Spain a 101-100 victory over Brazil (0-2).

Spain (1-1) led, 69-52, with 17:25 left. But Brazil’s Oscar Schmidt, one of international basketball’s top scorers, scored 10 points in less than three minutes to help close the gap. Schmidt finished with 44 points.

Puerto Rico (1-1) beat China, 100-68, in a Group B preliminary game. Mario Morales scored 15 points to lead five players in double figures for Puerto Rico. China is 0-2.

In other Group B games, Lithuania and the Commonwealth of Independent States improved to 2-0.

Lithuania struggled but pulled away in the final minutes to beat winless Venezuela, 87-79. Sarunas Marciulionis of the Golden State Warriors scored 27 points and had eight assists, and Arvidas Sabonis added 24 points and 11 rebounds for Lithuania.

Led by Valeri Tikhonenko and Sergei Bazarevich, the CIS took command early in the second half to beat Australia, 85-63. Tikhonenko and Bazarevich scored all the points on a 14-2 run to give their team a 49-37 lead with 14:05 to play.