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Canadians beat Australia to stay undefeated in Olympic men's basketball

CBC
·1 min read
Australia's Josh Giddey (3) challenges Canada's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) in the men's preliminary round group A basketball match between Canada and Australia during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille, France, on Tuesday. (AFP via Getty Images - image credit)
Australia's Josh Giddey (3) challenges Canada's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) in the men's preliminary round group A basketball match between Canada and Australia during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille, France, on Tuesday. (AFP via Getty Images - image credit)

RJ Barrett had a game-high 24 points as the Canadian Olympic men's basketball team improved to 2-0 with a 93-83 victory over Australia on Tuesday in Lille, France.

Barrett added seven rebounds, five assists and two steals in the win, which put Canada in a strong position to advance to the quarterfinals.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks added 16 points each for Canada.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort each had three steals for Canada, which scored 28 points off of 18 Australian turnovers.

Josh Giddey led Australia (1-1) with 19 points.

Canada could clinch a quarterfinal berth by the end of Tuesday should France beat Japan and Germany prevail against Brazil.

The seventh-ranked Canadians topped No. 14 Greece 86-79 in their tournament opener while Australia downed Spain 92-80.

Canada faces the No. 2 Spaniards in their group match on Friday at 11:15 a.m. ET.