Photo credit: FIBA
World #5 Serbia (2-0) defeated world #31 Gilas Pilipinas (0-1) in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) to top Group A on Thursday, July 1, 2021 at Aleksandar Nikolić Hall in Belgrade, Serbia.
Boban Marjanovic led Serbia with another huge double-double of 25 pts (12/18 FG), 10 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in 27 minutes of play. Ognjen Dobric added 16 points (4/7 3pts) while Milos Teodosic scored 13 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.
The young Gilas squad put up a gallant stand led by Ange Kouame with 17 points (8/15 FG), 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists and 1 steal. Jordan Heading scored 13 points (4/5 3pts, 1/2 FT) with 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal while Kai Sotto added 10 points (3/13 FG, 3/3 3pts, 4/4 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.
"The Philippines played as a team, and I want to congratulate them on that. They fought. Another thing, I wish Jovic a speedy recovery. He left the match early. We want him back as soon as possible. We will know more after the review. We have a lot of new names, and some guys were missing. We didn't react, we overthought. We defended instead of being in an attacking rhythm. It wasn't nice again, but we won." Igor Kokoskov, Serbia head coach.
"At some point, we were relaxed. We played irresponsibly. That resulted in us playing an uncertain ending. We must not allow that," Milos Teodosic, Serbian captain.
The Scores:
SERBIA 83 - Marjanovic 25, Dobric 16, Teodosic 13, Andjusic 12, Petrusev 8, Davidovac 5, Jovic 2, Milosavljevic 2, Avramovic 0, Bjelica DNP, Kalinic DNP, Micic DNP.
PHILIPPINES 76 - Kouame 17, Heading 13, Baltazar 10, Sotto 10, Abarrientos 9, Tamayo 5, Go 4, Navarro 4, Belangel 2, Nieto 2, Chiu DNP, Ramos DNP.
Quarters: 22-16, 45-34, 67-62, 83-76.