World basketball powerhouse Spain suffered a 74-55 defeat to Russia on Wednesday in a pre-FIBA Basketball World Cup exhibition game.

2019 NBA champion winner Marc Gasol remained absent due to a stomach issue.

Two NBA players (Willy Hernangomez Geuer and Ricky Rubio), led a 6-2 scoring run for the World Cup title contenders at the beginning of the game. Spain only pocketed one three-pointer before the half mark, while its rival enlarged its advantages to five points at the same time.

Willy Hernangomez earned nine points, but the Charlotte Hornets player failed to trim Spain's deficit. Team Russia got 27 points in the third period, 15 of which came through three-pointers. Spain started the fourth quarter on a 8-2 run, narrowing the gap to one digit, but the Russians rebuilt the lead to 74-55 going to the final whistle.

Russia's Vitaly Fridzon pocketed 14 points and six rebounds in the game. Hernangomez contributed 26 points and 11 rebounds for his team.

"I'd like to congratulate Russia, because they played very aggressive. Our guards didn't do a good job. We played really below our regular standard," said Spanish head coach Sergio Scariolo.

"It is our last friendly game, we will focus on the championships (the World Cup)." Scariolo added.

In the post-game press conference, Russia's head coach Sergey Bazarevich was too happy to intend to learn saying "Good Evening" in Chinese mandarin.

"We are satisfied with the action of our team, because against Argentina they played very bad, today is much better," Bazarevich said.

"It is a very good game for us, for our confidence. And they are still figuring out who we are," the Russian coach added. 

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