SERBIA ended the dream run of Lithuania, 87-68, on Tuesday night to go through to the semifinals of the 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Bogdan Bogdanovic made a long three-pointer just a second before the halftime buzzer, a reflection of how the day was for the Eagles who marched on to the semifinals where they will face either Canada or Slovenia.
Serbia played inspired ball after Borisa Simanic was ruled out of the tournament following a surgery to remove one of his two kidneys after he was elbowed late in their group stage game against South Sudan.
Lithuania suffered its first loss in their sixth game of the tournament, and it came at a very bad time as it was coming off a 110-104 win over the United States at the close of the second round last Sunday.
READ: Serbia team uncertain when Simanic will be discharged from hospital
Unlike in the USA game where they it 14-of-25 from the perimeter, Lithuania’s three-point shooting deserted them in the quarterfinal match.
Unlike it its upset of Team USA, Lithuania only shot 9-of-28 from threes and will now have to play in the fifth to eighth place classification round, with chances of claiming one of the two Olympic berths still in doubt.
Bogdanovic scored 18 of his 21 points in the first half, staking Serbia to a double-digit lead. He finished with a 9-of-13 clip from the field including two threes.
“Great game for us especially against one great team like Lithuania,” said Serbia coach Svetislav Pesic.
Filip Petrusev played his best game of the tournament and had 17 points and six rebounds as Serbia shot 33-of-60 from the field.
The scores:
Serbia (87) - Bogdanovic 21, Petrusev 17, S. Jovic 11, Milutinov 9, Guduric 9, N. Jovic 8, Avramovic 8, Davidovac 2, Marinkovic 1, Ristic 1, Dobric 0, Simanic DNP.
Lithuania (68) - Sedekerskis 14, Jokubaitis 13, Valanciunas 11, Brazdeikis 11, Normantas 8, Kuzminskas 6, Dimsa 3, Motiejunas 2, Maldunas 0, Kariniauskas 0, Sirvydis 0, Bendzius DNP.
Quarterscores: 24-25; 49-28; 73-55; 87-68.
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