MANILA, Philippines – Powered by Bogdan Bogdanovic’s sizzling offensive show, Serbia knocked Lithuania out of contention, 87-68, to officially land as the first team within the 2023 FIBA World Cup Semifinals round on Tuesday, Sept. 5, in the Mall of Asia Arena.
In the battle of two of the high-powered scoring teams of the tournament, Serbia outgunned Lithuania as Bogdanovic poured 21 points in a sizzling-hot 69 percent shooting from the field. Filip Petrusev added a nearly perfect 17-point output, while Stefan Jovic dished his 11.
Bogdanovic sank a last-second trey to hand Serbia a double-digit edge heading to halftime, 49-38.
After a needed rest in the locker room, Lietuva came out with extreme urgency by casting a 9-2 run with 7:55 in the third quarter as Rokas Jokubaitis nailed a layup, 52-47.
But that eventually served as the last significant stand of the Green Death. The Eagles went on to blast a 19-5 avalanche to cap off the third quarter as Aleksa Avramovic’s scoop shot puts Serbia with a commanding 73-55 card.
From there, Lithuania wasn’t able to recover itself. The mighty Serbian squad rallied to post as much as a 23-point margin in the final frame to officially confirm their entry to the World Cup Semis for the first time since 2014 via a dominant display.
Serbia will wait on who will come out between Canada and Slovenia on Wednesday to determine their next opponent at the Final Four round.
Tadas Sedekerskis scored 14 on a losing effort as he and Lithuania will now settle at the classification phase of the World Cup.
