By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Finally! After three blowout victories in the previous games, the fourth Olympic quarterfinal had all the excitement and intensity anyone could hope for from such a battle.
Serbia survived an admirable comeback by Croatia winning 86 – 83 and celebrating their first-time achievement of qualifying to the Olympic semifinals. Australia was already waiting there, after making short work of Lithuania earlier.
The two.. Bogdanovices were the ones to mainly spearhead the efforts of their teams. Bogdan dropped 18 points and dished 5 assists for Serbia, while Bojan was Croatia’s top scorer with 28 points.
Few would expect the match to end in quite the thrilling manner, entering into the fourth period. After completing a remarkable third quarter with a 34-14 partial score, the “Orlovi” had gained a 14-point lead, 69 – 55. Momentum was at their side as well as experience to not let this advantage slip from their hands.
However the Croats were themselves famous for not easily giving up. Coach Petrovic’s players amassed their strengths and began pulling off some big shots to make it a one-possession match with four minutes to go.
But that was as close as they got. During the final highly tense minute of the match, the Serbian players were accurate enough from the free-throw line to refusing their opponents a chance to get ahead of them, or even tie the score.
Even though his shooting was lackluster, Milos Teodosic shined via his passing skills, recording 10 assists, to go with his 9 points. Mario Hezonja was a protagonist in Croatia’s comeback fight, finishing the match with 16 points and 8 rebounds.
