In the first quarter-final match of the FIBA World Cup, Serbia competed against the Lithuanian national team. The “Eagles” played the best game in the Mundobasket so far and celebrated with the result 87:68 for the semi-finals!
Right before the start of the game, information arrived from Manila that Eimantas Bendzius would not play after missing the warm-up for health reasons.
The Lithuanians continued their great shooting rhythm after the duel against the United States. As many as five shots for three points were hit in the opening period, but Serbia, on the wings of captain Bogdan Bogdanovic and with the contribution of players from the bench, trailed by a minimum of 25:24 after ten minutes of play.
In the second quarter, Serbia managed to neutralize the attack of the Lithuanians with a much better defensive setup, which resulted in a slightly more significant lead. And the end of the first half belonged to Bogdanovic, who led his team to the highest score of 49:38 before the “big break”.
Above all, with team play at both ends of the floor, Serbia continued in a great rhythm in the second half. The Lithuanians were no longer served by the three-point shot, and the tandem of Nikola and Stefan Jovic led Serbia to the largest 18-point advantage up to that time, which was the same amount before the decisive quarter, 73:55. In the last quarter, the Serbian national team did not allow any uncertainty, and with the best game of the tournament, they made their way to the semi-finals!
The best scorer in the ranks of Serbia was captain Bogdanovic, scoring 21 points with four rebounds and three assists, but also a new game with a fantastic field goal percentage (9/12). Filip Petrusev scored 17 points, and Stefan Jovic recorded 11 points and five assists. In the Lithuanian team, Tadas Sedekerskis was the best with 12 points and seven rebounds.
In the semi-finals, Serbia will compete against the better team from the quarter-final duel, which will be played by Canada and Slovenia tomorrow. The remaining pairs of the quarterfinals are Italy and the United States, and Germany and Latvia.