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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Serbia rolls past China for rousing start in WC

Serbia rolls past China for rousing start in WC

Published Aug 26, 2023 02:25 pm

At A Glance

  • Serbia flexed its might and rolled past China, 105-63, to open its Group B campaign in the  2023 World Cup in a rousing fashion at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday, Aug. 26.

The Eagles' claws were obviously a lot deadlier than the Dragon's fire.

viber_image_2023-08-26_22-10-44-503.jpg
Bogdan Bogdanovic and Serbia are too much for China (Noel Pabalate/MB)

 

Serbia flexed its might and rolled past China, 105-63, to open its Group B campaign in the 2023 World Cup in a rousing fashion at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday, Aug. 26.

The Eagles easily shrugged off the early resistance from the Team Dragon before Bogdan Bogdanovic, Vanja Marinkovic and Dusan Ristic caught fire and helped the last edition’s fifth placers essay the rout.

The Atlanta Hawks sniper in Bogdanovic led the way for Serbia with 14 points, sharing the scoring honors with Marinkovic as the Eagles established a 21-point advantage at the half and even ballooned to as many as 42 points.

Rui Zhao paced China with 17 points while 7-foot-3 Zhou Qi added 12 points and five rebounds. Curiously, missing in action for the Team Dragon was their naturalized player in Li Kaier who even failed to score a single point and missed all of his nine attempts from the field in 25 minutes of play.

In the earlier game, Puerto Rico denied South Sudan a dream start to its very first FIBA World Cup campaign, escaping with a 101-96 win in overtime.

Puerto Rico battled back from a double-digit deficit in the final frame before Ismael Romero put his team in the position to win it in regulation. He, however, botched the two crucial free throws allowing the game to go to an extra period.

The Puerto Ricans, however, would not be denied in overtime with Stephen Thompson Jr. and NBA guard Tremont Waters leading the charge.

Over at Okinawa, Georgia emerged victorious in the battle of World Cup debutants against Cape Verde, 80-65. In the second game, Luka Doncic ran wild for Slovenia, erupting for 37 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the Junaki’s 100-85 win over Venezuela.

In Jakarta, Brazil clobbered Iran, 100-59, the most lopsided game so far in this edition of the World Cup.

With China and Iran defeats, all of the participating Asian team have dropped their first assignments with Gilas Pilipinas, being the lone team to put up a fight and avoid getting blown out, only losing by six points against the Dominican Republic.

Related Tags

2023 FIBA World Cup
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