Poland defeated China 79-76 in their second FIBA Basketball World Cup game in Group A, taking their second consecutive win and securing a spot in the next stage of the competition. The host had multiple chances to win this game but watched the victory slip away thanks to a deadly turnover at the end of the game.

Unlike their first game against Cote d'Ivoire on August 31, China were full of momentum in the first quarter. In offense, Chinese players were on fire by going four for five from the 3-point line and Zhao Jiwei earned a foul in that area too. Having stretched out the space, Chinese players had more room to work both under the rim and around the free throw line, allowing Zhai Xiaochuan to steal several scoring chances.

Poland's advantage lies in their back-court size and they used it against China. Poland's two big, strong guards kept posting up against their smaller Chinese matchups to attract help in defense before they either passed to open teammates outside or earned fouls on China's defense. Though Poland only buried a 3-pointer in the first half, causing serious foul trouble for Chinese players: 13 fouls in total, three on Yi Jianlian and three on Guo Ailun.

Though China established a 10-point lead in the first quarter (25-15), the team suddenly grew cold in Q2 and thus fell into scoring drought. Poland seized this opportunity and launched a 24-10 run to gain the lead 39-35 after the first half. What's even more depressing for China was that their players slowed down on the court. Some forgot to make an extra pass, driving against two- or even three-player defense; some began to hesitate even when they had chances to shoot.

China altered their offense from the second half by focusing more on the paint via Yi and Zhou Qi, who could use their size advantage to assault Poland's basket. Nonetheless, only after three possessions for the new tactics to work, China faced a new, bigger problem: the team's starting guard Guo was fouled out. This loss cost China their back-court offensive engine.

The good news for the host was that the new offensive choice worked as Yi claimed 10 points in the third quarter, helping China narrow down the score difference by one point (57-54). Head coach Li Nan chose to send Sun Minghui to the court and he became the ingenious move thanks to his tough defense that did great damage to Poland's offense. As Zhao Rui made China's fifth 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, China regained the lead 63-61 with four minutes to go.

The host almost did everything right in the last four minutes. They exerted enough ball pressure on Polish players; they refused to leave the opponents with any open shot; they committed fouls fast enough when they needed to; they even shot better than usual from the free throw line. However, it only took one mistake in the end to (almost) ruin their efforts in the entire game as China watched Poland steal the ball in a throw in the last 4.2 seconds. Poland made one of the two free throws they earned, dragging the game into overtime in which they defeated China 7-4.

Argentina in Group B defeated Nigeria 94-81 in one of the most important games on Monday to claim its second victory in a row, almost booking a spot in the second group stage of the tournament.

The 39-year-old Luis Scola put down a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds for Argentina. Four of his teammates, Facundo Campazzo, Gabriel Deck, Patricio Garino and Nicolas Laprovittola, also claimed over 10 points.

Although Nigeria had several NBA players, only Josh Okogie gave a performance that lived up to his NBA status by getting 18 points. Unlike him, Al-Farouq Aminu only had three points. So did former Utah Jazz center Ekpe Udoh.

Russia, which are in the same group, will play against South Korea later on Monday, and they are likely to win again, which means Wednesday's game between Russia and Argentina will decide which team will rank No. 1 in this group.

In the first game in Group C on Monday, Tunisia defeated Iran 79-67 at the Guangzhou Gymnasium, remaining hopeful for the second group stage. By contrast, Iran may have to prepare for the 17-32 Classification Round.

Salah Mejri took Tunisia's highest score, with 22 points and 15 rebounds, showing his dominance as an NBA player. His team's top scorers were Mejri (22), Omar Abada (12), Mourad El Mabrouk (11), Michael Roll (16) and Makrem Ben Romdhane (16). Mohamed Hadidane only got two points.

Hamed Haddadi was not in his best form in the game, as he only put down 13 points and 11 rebounds for Iran. The 2.18-meter-tall giant also delivered eight assists accompanied by four turnovers. The team's disappointing 3-point rate of 27 percent and over-reliance on Haddadi cost them this game.

Having lost to Poland in their first game in Group A, Venezuela took their win over Cote d'Ivoire 89-71 at the Cadillac Arena in Beijing on Monday, which means they still have a chance of making it into the next round.

Heissler Guillent claimed 31 points, the court's highest for Venezuela, by going six for 11 from the 3-point line and six for eight in 2-point field goals. He also used his great offensive threat to create opportunities for teammates, delivering seven assists.

Though Cote d'Ivoire saw four of their players – Charles Abouo (16), Deon Thompson (15), Tiegbe Bamba (13) and Guy Landry Edi (11) – drop double-digit points, the team had to accept two facts: first, they lost two games in a row; second, they won't be able to make the next stage.

Earlier on Monday, Italy claimed their second victory in Group D as they beat Angola 92-61 at the Foshan International Sports and Cultural Center in south China city Foshan.

In another dominant win for the team, Italy led in rebounds (42-35), assists (16-6), steals (10-6), blocks (7-1), fast-break points (14-4) and 3-pointers (12-2).

Marco Belinelli scored 17 points, Italy's highest, by burying three shots from downtown. Meanwhile, three of his teammates, Awudu Abass, Jeff Brooks and Daniel Hackett all got 11 points. Angola's Yanick Moreira, Leonel Paulo and Carlos Morais got 15, 12 and 10 points respectively.

The other game in this group will take place between Serbia and the Philippines later on Monday.

Other games on Monday:

Serbia 126-67 Philippines

South Korea 73-87 Russia

Puerto Rico 63-73 Spain