Bogdan Bogdanovic scores 23 points in victory over Canada, helping Serbia reach the final for the second time in the last three editions.
Serbia defeated Canada 95-86 to reach the final of the Men’s Basketball World Cup where they will face Germany.
Bogdan Bogdanovic was Serbia’s top scorer with 23 points in Friday’s semifinal in the Philippine capital Manila, followed by Ognjen Dobric and Nikola Milutinov, who scored 16 points each.
Svetislav Pesic’s team led 52:39 at the break and never let the lead slip, imposing their will on the pitch and controlling the boards.
For Canada, RJ Barrett scored 23 goals, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the team’s leading scorer, passer and rebounder, went scoreless in the first 15 minutes due to tight coverage and foul trouble.
He finished the game with 15 points, two rebounds and nine assists, well below his tournament average of 25 points per game.
Serbia, winners in 1998 and 2002, will be competing without their best player, Nikola Jokic, who opted not to play in the World Cup after leading the Denver Nuggets to the NBA championship in June and is biding time before the looming title defense to rest.
Serbia also had to regroup during the tournament after suffering the shock of losing substitute striker Borisa Simanic after he had to have a kidney removed following an elbow strike in the game against South Sudan.
Canada started the tournament with a convincing 95-65 victory over reigning Olympic silver medalists France and had the second-fewest odds – behind the USA – of winning gold for the first time in its history. However, there were a number of foul troubles early in the semifinals that prevented the defense from getting on track, which in turn prevented the offense from scoring easy baskets.
The Canadians will now face the United States for bronze on Sunday, seeking their most significant international medal since winning silver at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Serbia lost 129-92 to the USA in the final of the 2014 edition of the tournament in Madrid, Spain. The Balkan country lost in the quarterfinals of the 2019 tournament in China.
In a major upset, Germany beat the USA 113-111 in the second semifinal to secure the other spot in Sunday’s final.
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