USA survive scare to beat Australia

The United States survived a scare before taming scrappy Australia 98-88 in an Olympic men’s basketball thriller on Wednesday and extended their winning streak to 20 games.

The U.S. team, with a line-up of NBA all-stars and most valuable players bidding for a third straight gold medal, had to dig deep to see off the 11th ranked Australians, who have never set foot on the Olympic podium. With the win, the United States remained at the top of the Group A standings with a 3-0 record. Australia dropped to 2-1.

Unbeaten since the bronze medal game of the 2004 Athens Summer Games, the United States was on the brink of a rare loss until a fourth quarter rally. (Reuters)