MANILA, Sept. 1 (silubaba) -- Italy recovered from 16 points behind to edge one of the tournament's top title contenders Serbia 78-76 at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup here on Friday.
Italy had lost to the Dominican Republic in Group A, while Group B winner Serbia won all three group matches by a large margin.
Italy had faced Serbia nine times in FIBA events, losing seven of the matchups, but having won the two most recent contests.
The two teams contested a tight first half. Italy started the game by leading 20-10, only to see sharp shooter Bogdan Bogdanovic's buzzer-beater bring Serbia 42-40 ahead by the half-time whistle.
Serbia found their rhythm at the beginning of the second half. Big center Nikola Milutinov made straight baskets to help Serbia to a 10-0 run, widening their advantage to 16 points in the middle of the third quarter.
Italy managed to rejuvenate after a time-out. Simone Fontecchio stepped out, teaming up with veteran captain Luigi Datome to help Italy catch up. After a three-pointer from Datome, Italy narrowed the gap to three points by the end of the third period.
Italy started to get back into the game in the final quarter, while Bogdanovic missed all his five shooting attempts from beyond the arc. Italy took home the victory with a two-point margin after Serbian shooter Stefan Jovic missed a long-range shot in the final seconds.
Fontecchio had a game-high 30 points for Italy. Marco Spissu and Datome made 14 and 10 points respectively.
Italy managed to slow down Serbia's high-octane offense, limiting them to 76 points - 28.7 points below their average of 104.7 in the tournament. The Serbs also shot just 23 percent from long range with Bogdanovic making just 1 of 13 three-pointer attempts.
"I am so proud of my players because they never give up," said Italy coach Gianmarco Pozzecco.
"We were down 16 points, and it was not easy, especially against them."
Fontecchio gave the credit to team work. "This simply shows the heart of this team, and the will of this team," he said.
"We don't care how bad we are playing. We just keep playing, keep fighting until the end."
In the final group matches on Sunday, Serbia will face the Dominican Republic, and Italy will take on Puerto Rico. ■
微信扫描下方的二维码阅读本文
