By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
The game between Croatia and Slovenia was expected to be one of the most exciting and close clashes in the opening round of the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers. That wasn’t the case at all though.
Behind a tremendous all-around display and a triple-double by Dario Saric, Croatia routed Slovenia to began the Piraeus tournament with a statement performance, winning with a final score of 92-108.
Saric finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the charge overall for Croatia. Goran Filipovic provided 21 points while Ivica Zubac posted 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Luka Doncic had a triple-double of his own with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists but shot 8 – 23 from the field and took him some time to heat up while Croatia was in the zone right from the start.
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With Saric taking over early, Croatia grabbed a 15 – 5 in the first five minutes and went up 31 – 16 a the end of the first quarter. Luka was 1 – 9 during that stretch.
Zubac was involved in both ends and Croatia kept extending its lead. Slovenia reacted a bit to close halftime down 54 – 41.
Croatia turned its engines on and moved up 81 – 60 with 2:28 to play in the third quarter. At that moment the game was paused due to a technical problem with the shot clock and the interruption ultimately lasted 30 minutes.
Nothing could alter Croatia’s ferocious mode as Filipovic connected from beyond the arc after the break for the 84 – 60 lead. His team kept dominating until the end.