LONDON – Tony Parker scored 27 points and Nicolas Batum added 21 to lead France to an 82-74 victory over Lithuania in the Olympic men's basketball tournament Thursday. Ronny Turiaf, with the Los Angeles Clippers, pulled down 10 rebounds for France, which was led by its NBA players to its second win in three games. Batum plays with the Portland Trail Blazers. San Antonio Spurs guard Parker sank a 3-pointer to finish a 10-2 run that gave France a 59-52 lead at the end of third quarter and Lithuania never got closer than six after that. Parker, wearing goggles to protect a surgically repaired left eye, scored seven of France's last eight points. Linas Kleiza led Lithuania (1-2) with 17 points and Martynas Pocius added 15 off the bench. NBA guard Patrick Mills scored 20 points and Australia boosted hopes of reaching the medal playoffs by defeating China 81-61. David Andersen added 17 points and Joe Ingles had 11 for the Australians, who improved to 1-2 in preliminary Group B while China fell to 0-3 and will need help from other teams in order to reach the medal playoffs. Wang Shipeng led China with 21 points while NBA standout Yi Jianlian added 13 in a losing cause. Tunisia slowed down the dazzling US team in the first half before the Olympic champion found supersonic mode to record a 110-63 win in Group A. In the women's section, Angel McCoughtry and the US Olympic women's team's depth wore down Turkey. McCoughtry scored 18 points and Tina Charles added 16 to help the Americans beat the Turkey 89-58 Wednesday night. Next up for the US Friday is the Czech Republic, which beat Croatia 89-70 for its first win. Also Wednesday, France edged Canada 64-60. Russia remained unbeaten with a 67-61 win over Britain. Australia rebounded from its first loss to a non-American team in the Olympics since 1996 with a 67-61 victory over Brazil. — Agencies
