Bogdan, Serbians oust Lithuanians

Serbia turned to its suffocating defense and the feathery shooting touch of Bogdan Bogdanovic to complete an 87–68 blowout win over Lithuania to secure a semifinal spot in the FIBA Basketball World Cup yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Serbia will face the winner between Canada and Slovenia in the Final Four set on Friday at the same Pasay City venue.

Serbia turned the tables around in the second quarter after denying Lithuania any good look from the outside.

The Serbians made Lithuania miss all of its seven treys in the second period after hitting five triples in the first.

Filip Petrusev broke the game wide-open for Serbia with back-to-back baskets including a trey for a 79-57 lead with 6:45 left.

Bogdanovic finished with 21 points on 9-of-13 field goal shooting while Petrusev and Stefan Jovic had 17 and 11 markers, respectively.

Meanwhile, Canada is not content with just clinching a Paris Olympic berth.

Now in a good position for a crack at the crown, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of the Canadians are throwing everything they got to knock out the Luka Doncic-led Slovenia today.

All eyes will be on Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic as the two National Basketball Association stars try to keep their respective countries in the race for the title in their 8:30 p.m. clash.

In the 4:45 p.m. curtain-raiser, Germany and Latvia battle for the other semifinals seat.

Canada has reached the quarterfinals for the first time in 29 years after dethroning Spain, 88-85, to close the second round and at the same time secured a spot in next year's Summer Games joining the United States.