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SerbiavsItaly

( 21-11, 17-16, 20-11, 14-14)
06 September 2008 18:00h

Belgrade (SRB)

    Spectators: 14000
    Referees: Srdan Dozai (CRO), Juan  Arteaga (ESP), Seffi  Shemmesh (ISR)

    Team leaders
    Milos Vujanic13Pts14Giuseppe Poeta
    Nenad Krstic9Reb8Valerio Amoroso
    Novica Velickovic3Ass2Daniele Cinciarini
    Photo Gallery


    • Game Report
    • Boxscore
    • Play By Play
    06 September 2008

    Serbia took a huge step in the direction of EuroBasket 2009 qualification while driving a nail into the coffin of Italy on Saturday.

    Dusan Ivkovic's Serbians won over the Azzurri 72-52 to improve to 4-1 in Group A while dropping Carlo Recalcati's team to 1-4.

    Milos Vujanic led a balanced attack for the Blues with 13 points with Dusko Savanovic the only other Serb to finish in double figures with 12.

    Nenad Krstic scored six points in an 11-0 run to start the game for Serbia, with a Vujanic three-ball capping the early spurt.

    Italy managed to claw the deficit back to 13-9, Giuseppe Poeta pouring in six of those points for the Italians.

    They would get no closer.

    A Vujanic lay-up made it 21-11 for Serbia at the end of the first quarter and they poured in the first six points of the second frame for a 27-11 advantage.

    Ivkovic's team was in command the rest of the way.

    The lead ballooned to 24 points in the third quarter for Serbia as they cruised in the second half.

    Serbia out-rebounded Italy 46-24, and they also held the Azzurri to just 37.5% (15 of 40) shooting inside the arc.

    After that early burst of points, Krstic didn't score for Serbia but he finished as the team's leading rebounder with nine.

    Italy began the summer as one of the favorites to advance from Group A to the EuroBasket in Poland but now they will do well just to make it to next summer's Additional Qualifying Tournament.

    More defeats could see them drop into Division B, something that would be quite a development for a side that just four years ago won a silver medal at the Olympics.


    06 September 2008
    Giussepe Poeta, Italy player:

    "This was a very difficult game for us. Serbia has a very strong team. We tried to keep up with them but we did not succeed. On the defensive end we did okay, but on offense we made a lot of mistakes. We have one goal left now - to end third in this qualifying group and to try to get to EuroBasket 2009 through the additional qualifying round."

    Carlo Recalcati, Italy coach:

    "First I want to congratulate the Serbian team - they played a very good game. We didn't play well. The Serbian team was better in every basketball aspect (rebounding, steals, under the basket) and it was very difficult for us to play our game. We tried to stay in the game in the first half, but in the second half when Serbia went up by 20 in just a short time it was very difficult to keep up with them."

    Milenko Tepic, Serbia player:

    "After our loss in Finland we didn't have a right to make a mistake anymore in the remaining games. Even though this looks like an easy win for us, it was not like that since we felt a big pressure before the game. I hope that we will win all the games we got left to play and end these qualifications in that way."

    Dusan Ivkovic, Serbia coach:

    "Congratulations to my players for this win and for the will to win this game that they showed on the floor. Both teams made a lot of mistakes, but we went on a run in a short time at the very beginning of the game. I gave chance to all my players to participate in the game. The important thing is that we are not playing in the next round of games, which means that we have almost a week to prepare and to improve the way that we are playing for our next opponent, Hungary."


    Team Stats
    SerbiaItaly
    27/59FG M/A18/58
    23/39 (59.0%) FG2P M/A15/40 (37.5%)
    4/20 (20.0%) FG3P M/A3/18 (16.7%)
    14/23 (60.9%) FT M/A13/20 (65.0%)
    46 (12-34) Reb (O-D)34 (10-24)
    14Ass4
    14TO12
    5ST6
    1BS5
    24PF23
    72Pts52

    Top Performers
    SerbiaItaly
    Nenad
    Krstic
    Andrea
    Crosariol
    6Pts7
    9Reb5
    1Ass1
    0ST1
    0BS3
    11Min19

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