There were two ‘life and death’ games in Group I. And while Italy secured their place in the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup by beating Puerto Rico, Serbia on their side quite easily disposed (111-72) of the Dominican Republic of Karl-Anthony Towns to do the same.
It must be said that after failing against Italy, Bogdan Bogdanovic this time was absolutely perfect, with 20 points at 7/7 shooting, including 3/3 from afar, plus 5 assists and 3 interceptions.
The Hawks rear / winger was well helped by the distant explosion of Vanja Marinkovic, author of a nice 4/6 from 3-pointers but it was the whole Serbian collective who feasted, with 30 assists on 43 baskets, led by conductor Stefan Jovic, who compiled 12 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds.
On the Dominican side, Karl-Anthony Towns has certainly blackened the stats sheet (25 points, 7 rebounds) but the team’s game was too often limited to trying to serve inside Wolves.
What make the opposing defensive task too simple, KAT losing 7 balls in the case. Faced with the Serbian collective talent, which recovered after its bug in the previous match against Italy, it was too light and the Dominican Republic therefore quite logically fell by the wayside. Serbia finished in second place in the group, behind Italy, and will therefore challenge the winner of Team USA – Lithuania in the quarter-finals.
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