MANILA – The United States men’s basketball team relied on a huge endgame run to beat Montenegro, 85-73, in the second round of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup last night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Holding to a slim 64-62 lead with six minutes left, Paolo Banchero converted two freebies, while Anthony Edwards drilled a three-pointer and a fastbreak layup as the Americans widened the advantage to 71-64.
Montenegro threatened to within 68-72 but an outside connection from Austin Reaves, an inside hit by Jaren Jackson Jr. and two free throws each from Jackson and Reaves made it a 12-point edge for Team USA.
Edwards top-scored for Team USA with 17 points, three rebounds and two steals, while Reaves added 12 markers, including 9-of-11 free throw shooting as they improved to 4-0 win-loss slate.
Jackson chipped in 11 markers, while Tyrese Haliburton and Miles Bridges ended with 10 points each for Team USA, which moved a win closer from securing a quarterfinals seat.
Nikola Vucevic top-scored for Montenegro with 18 points, while Kendrick Perry finished with 14 markers as they slumped to 2-2 record with still a game to go in the round-of-16.
Meanwhile, Italy clawed back from a double-digit deficit in the second half to score a 78-76 stunner against Serbia. Both squads now has 3-1 win-loss slate.
Trailing by as much as 16 points in the third quarter, Italy rode on the exploits of Simone Fontecchio, Marco Spissu and Luca Severini as they took a 72-67 advantage.
Serbia cut the deficit to 74-76 via an outside shot by Marco Guduric but Italy pushed the lead to 78-74 with under a minute left via an inside connection by Fontecchio.
Two free throws by Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic trimmed the deficit to 76-78 and they still had a chance to snatch the victory at the buzzer but Stefan Jovic missed his triple try.
Fontecchio, a forward from Utah Jazz in NBA, top-scored for the Italians with 30 points, while Spissu and Datome contributed 14 and 10 points, respectively.
In other round-of-16 results, Latvia pulled off a massive 74-69 upset over defending champions Spain, while Germany stayed perfect after four games with a 100-73 triumph over Georgia./PN
BOX SCORE:
USA 85 — Edwards 17, Reaves 12, Jackson 11, Haliburton 10, Bridges 10, Banchero 8, Brunson 4, Hart 4, Kessler 4, Portis 3, Ingram 2.
MONTENEGRO 73 — Vucevic 18, Perry 14, Ivanovic 9, Simonovic 9, Dubljevic 8, Mihailovic 5, Radoncic 4, Radovic 4, Popovic 2, Slavkovic 0.
Quarterscores: 19-18, 37-38, 61-55, 85-73.
