By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
MANILA, Philippines – Extending the winning streak opposite Serbia, Italy prevailed, 78-76, in Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday.
After coming back from a 16-point deficit, the team coached by Gianmarco Pozzecco held on down the stretch to catch Serbia at 3-1 in Group I of the 2023 FIBA World Cup. A third win in a row against the powerhouse of the Balkan Peninsula, expanding from the 2020 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade and the 2022 EuroBasket.
Simone Fontecchio paved the way, delivering his best performance of the tournament so far with 30 points behind 11/15 field goals alongside seven rebounds and three assists. “What can I say? I’m really happy about the win, we did an amazing job as a team today. We don’t care if we are down 16, we don’t care if we are paying badly. We will fight until the end”, he said in the post-game press conference.
“You are right, Simo”, head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco followed. “We respect Serbia, their basketball. We are proud, and I’m so proud of my players. We were down 16 points and it was not easy. I will continue to do my job as I want. My players gave more than everything”, he added.
Marco Spissu followed with 14 points. Gigi Datome had ten points. Moreover, Alessandro Pajola had a great all-around game with seven points, six assists, and three rebounds.
Serbia was dragged by Nikola Milutinov for the most part of the game, as the Olympiacos returnee dropped a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds. Bogdan Bogdanovic came up clutch to close the second quarter and finally ended by scoring 18 points but struggling from deep (1/13).
Ognjen Dobric finished with 15 points. “We had really good moments in the game, especially in the third quarter. We made many mistakes in the second half, we made stupid decisions. They were tougher and smarter”, he said in the post-game press conference. “We didn’t control our game, especially at the moment we had a good result. In the end, we must win the last game against the Dominican Republic. We have enough time”, head coach Svetislav Pesic added.
Italy is off to a convincing start from the three-point range, despite already recording four turnovers in the first part of the opening quarter. A thunderous dunk by Fontecchio with 6:19 left in the first gave the Azzurri the right confidence, and Spissu gave the 10-point lead (20-10) with a 3+1 play with 2:57 minutes still to play. The Italian playmaker was clutch as well with a three from the corner, leading to the 23-19 to close the first ten minutes.
Pajola started the second quarter by suffering a charging foul and followed perfectly from the line with two free throws. Serbia came down to just a two-point deficit (25-23), forcing Italy’s first timeout with less than two minutes on the clock. Aleksa Avramovic gave them the lead with a deep three-pointer, and Vanja Marinkovic followed for the 29-25 lead. Italy managed to come back, but Bogdan Bogdanovic sent Serbia at halftime up 42-40 with a deep buzzer-beater.
Serbia opened the third quarter with the right attitude, containing Italy on defense and finding the best lead so far at 52-42 with an impressive dunk by Ognjen Dobric at 6:31 minutes on the clock. The 20-year-old Nikola Jovic was clutch from beyond the arc for the 16-point lead (60-44). Simone Fontecchio tried to reduce the gap with 11 straight points. Gigi Datome helped from deep to put Italy down by three (62-59) at the end of the fourth quarter.
Giampaolo Ricci ended his game with 8:35 left in the fourth quarter, awarded his 5th foul. Nikola Milutinov stayed on the court with four fouls after charging against Nicolò Melli. Simone Fontecchio banked a three-pointer from the corner and came up clutch to put Italy up 69-64 once again with 4:41 left. Finally, Italy stayed alive, managing to win against Serbia for the third straight year.
Italy will now need a win against Puerto Rico on Sunday to finally qualify for the knockout stage of the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Serbia will try to fight back against the Dominican Republic on Sunday. The two Caribbean teams
Simone gets all the love 💙
A big-time performance (30 PTS, 7 REB) in a huge W vs. Serbia earns him all the love from the Azzurri 🇮🇹#FIBAWC x #WinForItalia pic.twitter.com/LsPAn1Sh0f
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) September 1, 2023
PHOTO CREDIT: 2023 FIBA World Cup
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