IN front of a good-sized Serbian crowd that cheered and egged them on, the Eagles did not disappoint and achieved a lofty goal last night.
With ace wingman Bogdan Bogdanovic showing the way, Serbia dumped Lithuania 87-78 in their Last 8 duel and reached the semifinals of the 19th FIBA World Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The 6-foot-5 Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks scattered a game-high 21 points spiked by two three-pointers, to go with four rebounds and three assists, while Filip Petrusev of the Philadelphia Sixers chipped in 17 markers, six boards, and two dimes.
Stefan Jovic also had 11 points and five feeds as the Eagles scored a big follow up to their 112-79 whipping of the Dominican Republic in the second round of the group phase three nights back.
It was a sorry ending to the Green Death’s campaign in the global basketball extravaganza after they went into the match unbeaten in five games.
The Lithuanians also pulled off a stunning 110-104 decision over the United States last Sunday night.
World No. 6 Serbia will take on the winner of the other quarterfinals tiff pitting Canada and Slovenia in the knockout semis on Friday, Sept. 8, also at the Pasay-based venue.
“First of all, congratulations to my team. Great victory. Important victory. But it was a great game for us, especially against one great team like Lithuania,” Serbia coach Svetislav Pesic said. “We must give respect to the Lithuanian team because they played an excellent tournament.
“Not only because they won the game last time against the US, of course, we were ready to play against them in the quarterfinals,” he added.
