KEY POINTS

  • Dobric's sweet-shooting and Marjanovic's play in the paint led Serbia to a win
  • The Filipinos briefly held a one-point lead in the fourth quarter
  • Serbia coach Kokoskov praises the Filipinos for their effort 

The Serbian national team survived a potential scare in their victory over the young Philippine basketball squad

The FIBA Olympic Qualifiers started off with a heart-stopping game between Serbia and the Philippines.

Playing in front of their homecourt, the Serbians asserted their dominance on both ends of the court as they utilized their height to perfection, leaving the relatively-inexperienced Philippine team to chase them throughout the early part of the game.

Ognjen Dobric battered the Filipinos from three, and Boban Marjanovic’s quick scores helped in building the 11-point Serbian lead.

Highlighted by their scrappy defense and timely contests, the Philippine team tied the game up at 67 apiece before taking a brief 74-73 lead over Serbia thanks to an RJ Abarrientos basket in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter.

But Dallas Mavericks big man Boban Marjanovic doused all hopes for an upset as he scored the following eight of Serbia’s 10 points en route to the victory in front of a roaring home crowd in Belgrade, Serbia.

Serbian head coach Igor Kokoskov praised the Philippine delegation and head coach Tab Baldwin for the way that they played and how they were extremely close to pulling off the upset.

“Coach Baldwin has done a great job, a dear friend of mine. I think he has done an awesome job. His team really played together and they were competing,” said Kokoskov.

The win secures Serbia’s spot atop Group A with a clean 2-0 record and will go on to the semi-finals.

For the Filipinos, they’re facing a win-or-go-home situation as they duke it out with Dominican Republic on Friday, July 2 (Philippine time).

The winners will go on to battle the winner between Italy and Puerto Rico in a knockout game.

Naturalized Filipino Angelo Kouame led the way for the Southeast Asian team with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Former NBA G-League prospect Kai Sotto finished the game with 10 points on 23.1% shooting.

Serbia was anchored by Marjanovic’s 25 points and 11 rebound outing, alongside Dobric’s 16 points that featured four made three-pointers.

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