Serbia edges Croatia to reach final eight
Serbia survived a late surge by Croatia to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey.
Aleksandar Rasic converted a free throw with a second remaining to lift the Serbians to a 73-72 victory over the Croatians in their last 16 game at the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul.
Rasic was fouled by Davoc Kus as he made his way towards the basket. The Partizan Belgrade stalwart made the first free throw and deliberately missed the second, allowing the Serbians to escape with a win.
The Serbians seemed to be headed for an easy victory when they built a 64-57 lead with less than five minutes remaining in the game. But the Croatians rallied behind the efforts of Marko Popovic and Marko Banic. Popovic trimmed Serbia's lead to 60-64 after hitting a three-point shot. Milan Macvan hit a free throw on the other end but Popovic countered with his own free throw to put the Croatians within four again.
Novica Velickovic responded with a basket for the Serbians but four straight points from Banic allowed Croatia to come within 65-67. A free throw from Nenad Krstic gave Serbia a 68-65 lead with 44 seconds remaining.
Popovic again trimmed Serbia's advantage to one point with 24 seconds left after hitting two free throws. Rasic converted two more free throws for Serbia to extend their lead to 70-67 with 21 ticks left. Popovic answered back with two free throws for Croatia with 15 seconds remaining. He eventually tied the scores at 70-70 with 11 seconds remaining after hitting a free throw.
Serbia regained their lead after Rasic made a basket inside the lane with nine seconds left. Popovic tied the scores again with five seconds remaining but the Croatians blew their chance when Rasic was fouled with a second left in the game.
It was a painful defeat for the Croatians, who led in the first half. Led by Banic, Bojan Bogdanovic and Roko Ukic, the Croatians overcame a 0-5 start to take the lead after the first 10 minutes of play. The Croatians entered the second quarter with a 27-19 cushion.
Serbia rallied mid-way in the quarter to tie the scores at 29-29. But Ante Tomic and Popovic responded with five straight points to restore Croatia's lead. Although held to only nine points in the quarter, the Croatians held onto a 36-34 lead at the break.
The two squads, who used to play together under Yugoslavia in the past, traded baskets to start the second half before the Serbians made a late surge to take the lead after three quarters. A Milos Teodosic trey and a fast-break lay-up by Macvan gave Serbia a 54-50 lead heading into the fourth.
The Croatians remained within striking distance throughout the fourth but failed to regain their lead.
Krstic led Serbia with 16 points while Rasic finished with 15 points and made three assists. Kosta Perovic added 10 points and three rebounds. Popovic was the top performer for Croatia with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists. Ukic had 11 points, four rebounds and four assists while Banic scored 10 points and grabbed seven boards.
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