KEVIN DURANT scored 28 points and LeBron James added 18 as Team USA whipped Argentina 126-97 on Tuesday at the London Olympic Park Basketball Arena.
The USA faces Australia in the quarterfinals and is on course for a semifinal clash with the winner of the South American showdown between Argentina and Brazil.
Chris Paul had 17 points for the US, Andre Iguodala and Kevin Love had 13 apiece while Kobe Bryant added 11.
Argentina was led by Manu Ginobili’s 16 points, Carlos Delfino had 13, while Andres Nocioni and Juan Gutierrez had 12 each.
Patrick Mills drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Aussies to an 82-80 win over Russia.
Brazil erased a double-digit deficit to edge Spain 88-82.
Leandro Barbosa led the comeback, hitting two straight triples in an 8-0 tear that gave Brazil a 75-73 lead.
Spain takes on France while Russia battles Lithuania in the last quarterfinal.
France nipped Nigeria 79-73, while Great Britain bowed out in style with a 90-58 rout of China.
Jennifer Suhr of the US won women's pole vault gold, while two-time champion Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia settled for bronze.
The 30-year-old Suhr, silver medalist in the 2008 Beijing Games, cleared 4.75 meters on her second attempts for the gold and Yarisley Silva, who earlier had a failed attempt, matched that height for silver.
Isinbayeva, however, cleared only 4.70.
In the 400 meter hurdles, Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic got back on top of the podium eight years after first winning the gold in the Athens Olympics.
The 34-year-old Sanchez clocked 47.63 seconds followed by Michael Tinsley of the US in 47.91 and Puerto Rico’s Javier Culson in 48.1.
World champion Dai Greene of Britain placed fourth and Beijing Games winner Angelo Taylor fifth.
19-year-old Kirani James of Grenada topped the 400 meters in 43.94 seconds and Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic, also 19, clocked 44.46 in winning silver. Trinidad and Tobago’s Lalonde Gordon, 23, placed third in 44.52.
Beijing Games winner LaShawn Merritt of the US injured his hamstring in the heats two days ago.
At Old Trafford, Alex Morgan scored in the dying seconds of extra time to lift defending women's football champion US to a 4-3 win over Canada and the finals of the women’s football tournament.
The Americans dispute the title with the Japanese, who defeated France 2-1.
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