ANKARA
Italy stunned FIBA EuroBasket 2022 favorites Serbia 94-86 in the last 16 on Sunday.
Serbia were leading the game 68-66 in the early minutes of the fourth quarter. But Italy made it 69-68 after point guard Marco Spissu hit a three-pointer with almost nine minutes remaining to the buzzer.
Italy have never looked back.
Italian forward Achille Polonara made a three-pointer to make a double-digit gap, 82-70 with five minutes and 34 seconds to go.
In the rest of the time, Italy did not let Serbia hold on to the game, and won the clash 94-86 at Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Italy were balanced in the offense as Spissu scored 22 points, forward Nicolo Melli racked up 21 points, and another forward Simone Fontecchio had 19 points.
Polonara added 16 points for Italy.
Serbian superstar Nikola Jokic was the game’s top scorer with 32 points. Jokic also grabbed 13 rebounds to post a double-double.
Guard Vasilije Micic scored 16 points for Serbia, and his teammate Nikola Kalinic clocked up 12 points.
Serbia’s journey in the EuroBasket ended.
Italy will face France in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Finland beat Croatia with major help from Markkanen
Finnish star Lauri Markkanen, who was signed by Utah Jazz in September, carried his nation to the EuroBasket quarterfinals as the 25-year-old scored 43 points against Croatia in the game that Finland won 94-86.
Markkanen missed a double-double as he grabbed nine rebounds.
Sasu Salin, another Finnish player, bagged 17 points.
Edon Maxhuni added 16 points for Finland.
Croatian shooting guard Bojan Bogdanovic tallied 23 points against Finland.
Jaleen Smith made 17 points for Croatia.
Croatian power forward Dario Saric clocked up 12 points and took nine rebounds.
Finland will play against Spain on Tuesday.
Earlier Sunday, Poland beat Ukraine 94-86 to face Luka Doncic-led Slovenia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Greece are now playing against the Czech Republic in the last 16.
The winning team of this tie will take on knockout stages’ hosts Germany in the upcoming phase.
