Croatia stump Czech Republic in the fourth quarter to qualify for the semifinals of 2012 FIBA U 17 World Championship
Domagoj Bosnjak led the way with 21 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals as Croatia romped into the semifinals of the 2012 FIBA U 17 World Championship for Men with a 94-71 win over the Czech Republic.
Croatia entered the quarterfinal as the clear favourites, but failed to assert their authority in the game for the first three quarter. However, they entered the last period as a completely different team and outscored their European
foes 22-5 to book a date with Australia in the semifinals, due to be played tomorrow.
The Czechs will now play in the 4-8 classification game against Argentina, who were also blown out of the semifinal contention in a much similar way by the Aussies.
Karlo Zganec tallied 19 points for the Croatians, who also got 18 from Mario Hezonja and 10 points with 7 dimes from Paolo Marinelli. Marko Arapovic scored only 4 points but finished the night with a game-high 11 rebounds, with
5 of them coming on the offensive end.
Three Czechs also managed to cross the double scoring figures. Martin Peterka had a huge night with 23 points while Jiri Dedek added 16.
Croatia had a 7-2 start to the game, but failed to capitalize on the initial momentum and after leading by as many as 8 points deep into the first quarter, they allowed the Czechs to score the last five point of the frame, ending
it with just a 24-21 lead.
A Bosnjak three pointer stretched the Croatian advantage to six, but the Czechs just kept on responding back and with 4:47 left for the first half to finish, took a 32-31 on a Peterka two pointer. Croatia snatched the lead back
on the next possession but the game was tied thrice before the interval, at which point the scores were 42-40, advantage Croatia.
The Croatians outscored the Czechs 14-8 inside the first four minutes of the third quarter to build an 8 point lead, and managed to maintain a sizeable lead till the end of the frame.
They entered the last quarter with a 72-66 edge and then delivered the knockout punch to enter the last four.
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