Belgrade OQT: Serbia made to work by gritty Gilas to punch semis ticket

After breezing past Dominican Republic, fifth-ranked Serbia were given the biggest fright of their lives in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament, after they were made to sweat by a youthful Philippines side before taking out a hard-earned 83-76 win to advance to the semifinals Wednesday evening in Belgrade’s Aleksandar Nikolic Hall (Thursday dawn, Manila time).

Touted as the favorites to go to Tokyo, Igor Kokoskov’s Orlovi looked set for yet another breather after their 18-point win over the Dominicans but they found themselves in a dogfight against Tab Baldwin and the youthful Gilas for the entire forty minutes, despite having the obvious advantage in every category.

Like the Filipinos who had to play sans Dwight Ramos, Serbia were already depleted with Nikola Kalinic and Nemanja Bjelica out due to injuries while point guard Vasilje Micic was rested by the former Phoenix mentor after their win over the Dominicans the day before.

However, their end-game composure got them over the line to advance to the last four by sweeping their assignments in group A play, and will wait for the loser of the lone group B game between Puerto Rico and Italy as Senegal saw their Olympic dreams crushed by the coronavirus which prevented them to leave Germany for the Serbian capital.

For coach Baldwin and Gilas, they will play for the last seat in the final four against the Dominicans the day after.

Boban Marjanovic that stood out for the hosts, with the Dallas slotman fired in a game-high double-double of 25 points and 11 rebounds (for an efficiency rating of 29) to save Kokoskov’s blushes.

Serbia’s backcourt tandem of Red Star Belgrade’s Ognjen Dobric (16 points on 60% field goal shooting) and Virtus Bologna’s Milos Teodosic (13 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds) made sure that the absence of the reigning EuroLeague MVP were not felt, especially for the former who is playing for his country on his home floor.

For Gilas, Ange Kouame paced them with 17 markers, the Ateneo center was backed up by Alab guard Jordan Heading who fired in 13 on an efficient 67% from the field, making all but one of his five attempts from beyond the arc.

Serbia and the Philippines went toe to toe for the most part of the game in the old Pionir, and although the former led by as much as 16 on a Dejan Davidovac lay-up that made it 56-40 with 6:53 remaining in the third, the reigning Olympic silver medalists still could not find another scoring run to blow the game wide open.

Only trailing by five to open the final frame, Gilas went head-on and tied the game for the only time by firing five straight before the Serbians countered with a 6-0 run of their own.

However, the Filipinos went on a notch higher and almost completed their fightback when they put up seven unanswered points to take the lead for the lone time at 74-73 on an RJ Abarrientos lay-up with 3:50 to go.

But it was not meant to be as Marjanovic took over scored all but two of Serbia’s final 10 markers as they held Gilas to just a baseline one-hander by Justine Baltazar for a nerve-wracking victory.

The scores:

SERBIA 83 – Marjanovic 25, Dobric 16, Teodosic 13, Andjusic 12, Petrusev 8, Davidovac 5, Jovic 2, Milosajevic 2

PHILIPPINES 76 – Kouame 17, Heading 13, Baltazar 10, Sotto 10, Abarrientos 9, Tamayo 5, Navarro 4, Go 4, Belangel 2, Nieto 2

Quarter scores: 22-16, 45-34, 67-62, 83-76

PHOTOS: FIBA