Host Greece fell short to claim a berth in the last four of the men's basketball Olympic tournament after a 69-64 loss to Argentina in Athens on Thursday.

Fragkiskos Alvertis shot a desperate 3-pointer with 5.0 seconds left on the clock after Luis Scola gave Argentina a 67-64 lead with two free-throws.

Emanuel Ginobili made another two free-throws to put Argentina into the semi-final, together with Lithuania, Italy and the United States.

Ginobili from the San Antonio Spurs scored 13 points, while Fabricio Oberto and Juan Sanchez added 13 and 12 respectively.

Trailing by 27-21, Greece used a 14-0 run to end the first half and extended the lead at 38-29 at the beginning of the third period.

Sanchez tied it at 53-53 with a 3-pointer before a 6-0 run to start the decisive fourth.

With the help of the yelling audiences, Nikolaos Chatzivrettas closed the game at 65-64 on a 3-pointer with 35.6 seconds to go.

Chatzivrettas led Greece with 12 points with Theodoros Papaloukas and Dimosthenis Ntikoudis contributing 11 apiece.