BEIJING — The United States advanced to the Olympic men's basketball semifinals with a 116-85 victory Wednesday over Australia.

Kobe Bryant scored 25 points in his best game of the Olympics and LeBron James added 16 on Wednesday for the Americans. The U.S. will face defending gold medalist Argentina or Greece on Friday in the semifinals.

The Americans pulled away late in the second quarter and blew it open early in the third to move two wins from their first gold medal since 2000.

Patrick Mills had 20 points for Australia.

"Early in the game, they made a lot of tough shots," U.S. point guard Chris Paul said. "We were doing what we were supposed to be doing and they made tough shots, but sooner or later we'll impose our will. I don't know if you can keep up with us for 40 minutes."

Showing no fear of the Americans, the Australians delivered hard fouls and attacked the basket instead of settling for jump shots. They trailed by just a point after a quarter and five more than halfway through the second — and would have been closer if not for missing four easy shots in the half.

In the end, though, the Australians were worn down by relentless pressure from the U.S.

"I think they're going to be very, very, very tough to beat," Australia coach Brian Goorjian said.

Earlier, Pau Gasol scored 20 points to lead world champions Spain to a 72-59 win over Croatia. Lithuania, bronze medalists at the 2000 Sydney games, meanwhile, eliminated the hosts in their quarterfinal, beating China 94-68.

Lithuania plays Spain in another semifinal Friday.

Felipe Reyes scored 13 points for Spain, while Toronto Raptors point guard Jose Calderon added 10. Gasol, who plays with the Los Angeles Lakers, shot 73 percent from field throw range and grabbed a game-leading 10 rebounds.

Marko Banic had 15 points to lead Croatia, which as a team hit just 38 percent of its field goals.

The loss ended what had been a remarkable return to form for the world 20th-ranked Croatians, who had gone 3-2 in pool play. Spain has one loss in this tournament, to the United States.

The Spaniards got off to a strong start in the first quarter with a lightening 12-1 run. Croatia battled to within 10 points at the beginning of the fourth, only to have Spain run up another 10 unanswered points.

In what may have been China's final game with coach Jonas Kazlauskas at the helm, Sarunas Jasikevicius scored 23 points to lead Lithuania, while Houston Rockets center Yao Ming put in 19 for China.

The score remained close into the third quarter, but the Lithuanian shooters soon began knocking down 3-pointers to blow the game open.

By that stage, Yao, who scored 11 of his 19 points from the free throw line, appeared exhausted.

The result matches China's best-ever finish in an Olympic basketball tournament, setting the stage for a major rebuilding effort ahead of qualifying for the 2012 London Games.

"I'm really happy, but also a little sad about our result," said Yao, who battled back from a season-ending foot injury in the spring to be fit for the home games. "We were determined to fight, but were limited by our capabilities."

The Lithuanian-born Kazlauskas, who has yet to announce any decision on his future, said he had hoped for a better result.

"I was thinking that we can do something more. But not everything has to do with practice and games," said Kazlauskas, who has coached the national side for four years. "I think we need more experience, need more players in other clubs, other countries."