FIBA World Cup 2019 Results: Scores, Highlights for Friday's 2nd-Round Games

The second round of the 2019 FIBA World Cup got underway Friday, with a group of favorites getting victories to lock themselves into the quarterfinals. 

Argentina, Poland, Serbia and Spain each picked up wins to clinch their spot, while Russia, Venezuela, Italy and Puerto Rico saw their dreams of continuing into the elimination round go by the wayside.

Overall, the top two teams in Group I and Group J stayed the same. Here is a look at how things played out from China.

Results

Poland 79, Russia 74

Adam Waczynski scored 18 points and Mateusz Ponitka added 14, as Poland came back for a 79-74 win over Russia and clinch a quarterfinals berth.

Poland trailed by six points at halftime and four going into the fourth quarter but opened the final frame with a 10-1 run and never trailed again. Eight of Waczynski's 18 points came in the fourth quarter to help his country stay undefeated.

Much of Poland's success can be attributed to their ability to get to the free-throw line. Poland knocked down 35 of their 38 attempts at the charity stripe. Russia only got to the line 19 times total, hitting 13.

The free-throw disparity allowed Poland to win despite shooting 35.8 percent from the field and hitting just six of 23 shots from beyond the arc.

Mikhail Kulagin led all scorers with 21 points for Russia. Andrey Vorontsevich and Semen Antonov each added 11 points.

Argentina 87, Venezuela 67

Gabriel Deck scored a game-high 25 points to lead four Argentinian players in double figures, as they cruised to an 87-67 win over Venezuela.

Former NBA star Luis Scola also had 15 points for Argentina, who shot 52.9 percent from the floor. Facundo Campazzo had an excellent game as the offensive maestro, dishing out nine assists to go with his 12 points, and Patricio Garino rounded out the double-figure scorers for Argentina with 10.

Michael Carrera led all Venezuelan scorers with 19, and they had three other players in double figures. However, no other player scored more than six points, as they were held to 38.8 percent from the floor as a team.

Argentina will play Poland for the Group I title on Sunday. 

Serbia 90, Puerto Rico 47

Nemanja Bjelica had 18 points and Nikola Jokic added a double-double to lead Serbia in a dominant 90-47 win over Puerto Rico.

Quickly becoming the favorites in the tournament, Serbia shot 55.7 percent from the floor and had five players in double digits. They never won a quarter by fewer than nine points and never trailed.

Jokic, continuing to establish himself as a tournament MVP favorite, had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Boban Marjanovic had his best game of the World Cup with 16 points, while Stefan Bircevic (14 points) and Marko Guduric were also in double figures.

David Huertas was the only player in double figures for Puerto Rico, who shot 26.6 percent and were held to a 2-of-24 mark from beyond the arc. 

Serbia has outscored their opponents by a tournament-high 163 points. No other team has a better differential than plus-77. France and the United States can both get into the triple-digit mark after opening their second round Saturday.

Spain 67, Italy 60

Juancho Hernangomez put up a game-high 16 points and Ricky Rubio added 15, as Spain survived a 67-60 defensive struggle over Italy.

The Spaniards held Italy to 35.4 percent from the floor, allowing them to overcome their 15 turnovers. 

Hernangomez was the one largely keeping things steady early on as the team around him couldn't find a rhythm. Rubio turned the ball over seven times and shot 4-of-11 from the field, not getting his game together until a strong final couple minutes. He pounded his way to the rim and made five foul shots in the final 1:39.

Marc Gasol was almost nowhere to be found on either end of the floor, finishing with two points and four rebounds in 27 minutes.

Danilo Gallinari paced the Italians with 15 points.

Spain will move on to play Serbia on Sunday to determine the Group J winner.