DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – SERBIA 79:112 (15:29, 20:27, 18:31, 26:25)
Serbia is in the quarter-finals of the World Cup! After five group stage matches, the Serbian national team continue their journey in the elimination phase. In the last round, our team defeated the Dominican Republic with a score of 112:79. In the quarter-finals, as the second-placed team in Group I, Serbia will play against the first-placed team in Group J, Lithuania, on Tuesday, September 5th, at 10:45 AM, following Lithuania’s victory against the USA with a score of 110:104 in the match for first place.
From the beginning of the game, Serbian players imposed a rhythm on their opponents through energetic play. Several times in the first quarter, the players in blue managed to prevent the opponent from taking a shot after the 24-second shot clock expired. On the other side, Marinković, Bogdanović, and Milutinov scored in a series, giving Serbia a 29:15 lead after the first ten minutes. The second quarter continued in the same rhythm, and after a few attacks, Stefan Jović scored for 40:20.
Until the end of the first half, the Serbian national team controlled the pace, and the halftime break Serbia was leading 56:35.
In the second half, Coach Pešić stuck with the same starting lineup that began the game. Where they left off in the first 20 minutes, Stefan and Nikola Jović, Vanja Marinković, Bogdan Bogdanović, and Nikola Milutinov continued in the third quarter. The Dominican Republic, with Karl-Anthony Towns, tried to catch up, but without much success, as the Serbian team continued to play in a rhythm that broke the opponent. Before the start of the final quarter, with the score 87:53, the outcome of the match was certain, and only the last quarter remained to be played for Serbia to officially become a quarter-finalist in the World Cup.
In the final quarter, Serbia passed the 100-point mark a little over four minutes into the game after a dunk by Filip Petrušev, sealing the victory.
Coach of Serbia, Svetislav Pešić:
“First, it was important to show a reaction after the previous game, and the team did it brilliantly. Not just because of the victory, but also because of our plan to attack the Dominican Republic’s best player. In our opinion, that’s Feliz, who had a great tournament. We tried to eliminate him from the game, and we succeeded. It was important to give a chance to players like Petrušev and Avramović. We couldn’t count on them; they were good during the preparations, but then they got injured. Congratulations to my players on the victory; we showed strength, self-confidence, energy, and played at a high level from start to finish.”