SIMONE Fontecchio took matters into his own hands as Italy defeated Serbia, 78-76, on Friday in the second round of the 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Fontecchio scored 30 points including clutch hits for Italy, which improved to 3-1, while handing Serbia, one of the favored teams in the tournament, its first loss in the battle of European teams.
The Utah Jazz cager buried a jumper with 33.9 seconds left, giving the Azzurri a 78-74 lead that held to the end.
Marco Spissu, named Best Player of the Game during Italy's win against Gilas Pilipinas, had 14 points while Italian veteran Gigi Datome, the only holdover from its 2019 World Cup team, had 10 points including key shots that helped their team overhaul a 16-point deficit.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 18 points but struggled from the outside, hitting just one of his 13 threes. Nikola Jovic also struggled with just five points on 1-of-6 shooting.
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