Serbia’s Under-17 basketball team cruised past New Zealand 121-91 in the Round of 16, securing a place among the top eight teams at the FIBA U17 World Cup. Next up is a major challenge against Lithuania, which advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Japan 98-62.
The team coached by Stevan Mijović suffered an opening-game defeat to Australia but quickly bounced back, raising its level of play with convincing victories over Venezuela and Ivory Coast before making an impressive start to the knockout stage.
Serbia was led by Nikola Kusturica with 27 points, while Ognjen Simjanovski added 16, Petar Bjelica scored 15, Lazar Miličić and Luka Pavlović contributed 11 apiece, and Vuk Stepanović and Luka Galić each finished with 10 points. For New Zealand, Jayden Cecil poured in 37 points, while Liam Keogh had 11 and Tawari Kate added 10.
Elsewhere in the Round of 16, Slovenia was defeated by Australia 104-85. As for Serbia’s next opponent, Lithuania topped its group after recording victories over Canada, China, and Cameroon. The Lithuanians also had little trouble defeating Japan to book their place in the quarterfinals.
However, Lithuania is far from unbeatable. If Serbia can reproduce the performance it delivered against New Zealand, it has every reason to believe it can earn a place in the semifinals, where it would face the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between France and tournament hosts Turkey.
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Source:: SportKlub; Foto: FIBA