Serbia rout Lithuania in World Cup quarter-finals

[September 05, 2023]  By Neil Jerome Morales
 
MANILA (Reuters) - Serbia beat Lithuania 87-68 in the World Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday with Bogdan Bogdanovic, who also plays for the Atlanta Hawks, leading the scoring with 21 points.  

Following a tight opening quarter, Serbia tightened the screw in the second, limiting Lithuania to 13 points - their lowest tally in any quarter of a World Cup game since 2019.

Basketball - FIBA World Cup 2023 - Quarter-Final - Lithuania v Serbia - Mall of Asia Arena, Manila, Philippines - September 5, 2023 Serbia's Nikola Jovic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Vanja Marinkovic, Stefan Jovic and teammates celebrate after winning the match REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

Serbia, who had won their previous 13 games when leading by double digits at halftime, entered the break up 49-38 and the sixth-ranked team built a 25-point lead with six minutes to go.

Lithuania had won bronze in 2010 by beating Serbia 99-88 and came into Tuesday's game on a high after handing the United States their first loss of the tournament loss on Sunday.

The U.S., the highest-ranked team left, play 10th-ranked Italy at 1240 GMT as they bid for a record sixth world title.

On Wednesday, Germany play Latvia and Canada meet Slovenia.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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