SENDAI, Japan _ Igor Rakocevic scored 26 points and Darko Milicic added 18 Wednesday as defending champion Serbia and Montenegro cruised to a 90-65 win over Venezuela at the basketball world championship.

Milicic, a center for the NBA's Orlando Magic, had six blocked shots, 11 rebounds and was 8-for-16 from the field.

"We played a good game," said Milicic. "After we lost the first two games we've started playing with more confidence and all the guys hustled today."

Serbia-Montenegro improved to 2-2 in Group A and is virtually assured of a place in the second round. Venezuela dropped to 1-3.

Serbia-Montenegro, which led 46-29 at the half, won the 2002 world title at Indianapolis while competing as Yugoslavia. However, it made this tournament only as a wild card.

Now it is an aging team, and some of its NBA players _ Nenad Krstic of New Jersey and Aleksandar Pavlovic of Cleveland _ are not playing.

Serbia-Montenegro forward Ognjen Askrabic injured his left ankle in the first quarter and did not return.

Serbia-Montenegro faces Argentina in its final preliminary round game. Argentina wrapped up first place in Group A earlier Thursday with a 98-64 win over Nigeria.

"That was an important game for us," said Serbia-Montenegro coach Dragan Sakota. "We knew if we won by a big margin we'd be going through. We want to play now for a better draw, but unfortunately I don't think Askrabic will be able to play against Argentina."

Serbia-Montenegro beat Argentina 83-64 in a tuneup game in Singapore before the tournament started. Sakota said he expects a tougher game on Thursday.

"We won't be fooled by that result," said Sakota. "Argentina is playing a lot better now, they are more focused, in better shape and will be tough to beat."

Venezuela's next match is against France.