BILBAO/GRAN CANARIA/GRANADA/SEVILLA (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Spain marched into the Round of 16 at the FIBA Basketball World Cup and also sent out a loud message to defending champions USA with a resounding victory over Brazil on Monday night.

In Group B, Greece also punched their ticket to the next round with a win over Puerto Rico, while Senegal came up with a second straight triumph to enhance their chances of progressing.

Spain, one of the biggest threats to the United States' bid to repeat as champions for the first time, rolled to an 82-63 win over Brazil.

Juan Antonio Orenga's side exploded out of the gate and led 30-14 by the end of the quarter and never turned back.

Pau Gasol, the MVP of the 2006 FIBA World Championship, had 26 points and nine rebounds for Spain.

France and Serbia were Group A's other winning sides on Monday with the former downing Egypt and the latter overcoming Iran.

The French, winners of last year's EuroBasket, have bounced back from an opening night loss to Brazil with back-to-back wins.

They raced into a 23-15 lead by the end of the first quarter against Egypt and then slammed the door shut in the second when they outscored the African team, 26-11.

Vincent's Collet's side prevailed 94-55 with Joffrey Lauvergne posting 12 points.

Serbia won 83-70 but they didn't have it easy at all, with the Iranians trailing just 42-38 at half-time.

Aleksandar Djordjevic's team turned on the style in the third quarter and opened up a 67-51 lead and won by double digits.

Nemanja Bjelica had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Serbians.

Greece won for the third straight night and condemned Puerto Rico to their third straight loss.

Kostas Kaimakoglou had nine points and 11 rebounds for the Greeks as they clinched a 90-79 victory.

Senegal have been the surprise package of the tournament so far.

They followed up their upset of Puerto Rico with a 77-75 triumph over Croatia.

Gorgui Dieng, one of the top players of the tournament so far, had 27 points, eight rebounds and two blocks for the Senegalese.

Argentina put their loss to Croatia behind them and defeated the Philippines 85-81.

Marcos Mata finished with 17 points and nine rebounds for the winners.

Argentina improved to 2-1 and the Philippines, despite another brave performance, fell to 0-3.

FIBA