By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
No Teodosic, no problem for Serbia. Even without their floor general, the “Orlovi” beat the Croatian national team 86 – 77 to end the preparation period before the Olympic Games on a high note in the “Four nations” tournament at Cordoba, Argentina.
Miroslav Raduljica scored 17 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and won 8 (!) fouls by his opponents, making the most out of them with a perfect 11/11 from the free throw line. Bogdan Bogdanovic was also pivotal for the winning side, particularly in the second half, adding 13 points plus 4 assists.
Quite naturally, Bojan Bogdanovic was Croatia’s top scorer with 18 points (but also 2/10 from downtown), while Dario Saric dropped 12 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Yet his contribution came mostly during the first half.
That was the period in which Aco Petrovic’s players had the upper hand, going to the locker rooms with a 36 – 40 advantage. Yet Serbia’s intense aggressiveness in the second half gave them a 64 – 60 lead at the end of the third quarter..
Even though Croatia answered back to get ahead in the score 76 – 77 with three minutes to go, it was Serbia that possessed the appropriate stamina in order to deliver down the stretch. A three-pointer by Stefan Markovic and a quite… Curry-esque downtown basket from Stefan Jovic kick-started a 10-0 run that led their team to victory.