Bryant leads USA into Olympic semifinals

Kobe Bryant scored all of his 20 points in the second half Wednesday to push the United States into the Olympic semifinals with a 119-86 win over Australia. The quarterfinal victory came after the Australians had clawed within 3 points less than 2 minutes deep into the third period. Bryant then went to work and LeBron James produced his first Olympic triple-double to give the Americans some breathing room. They created a semifinal date Friday with Argentina, a team the United States defeated during group play 126-97. A 3-pointer by Joe Ingles with 8:27 left in the third period brought Australia within 56-53. The Americans opened a 14-point lead at the end of the third period and outscored the Australians in the final period by 19. Bryant hit 6-of-10 shots from 3-point range while James had 11 points, 12 assists and 14 rebounds. Deron Williams added 18 points for the Americans and Carmelo Anthony had 17. Argentina advanced to its meeting with the United States by downing Brazil 82-77. Russia, which finished on top of its group during the round-robin portion of the tournament, downed Lithuania 83-74 to get to the semifinals, where it will meet Spain. The Spanish, who lost to the United States in the gold medal game in Beijing four years ago, outlasted France 66-59.