Argentina’s grand old man Luis Scola knocked down a series of key buckets in a fourth quarter surge Tuesday to crush Serbian hopes and propel the South Americans into the semifinals of the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Scola, 39 years old and the last remaining member of Argentina’s “Golden Generation” that won the Olympics in 2004, finished with a team-high 20 points in the 97-87 quarterfinal win .
More fluid
Argentina was the more fluid of the two teams throughout the game, moving the ball well and spreading out the scoring.
Serbia had looked like a title contender after demolishing its opponents in the group phases by a average 40.8 points per game.
But the subsequent loss to Spain rocked the Serbs and they never seemed able to find a consistent rhythm against a pesky Argentine defence.
The bigger Serbians, who had looked dominant in group play behind do-it-all centre Jokic, had to play catch-up against the quick Argentines throughout their quarterfinal contest.
For the Serbs, shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings led all scorers with 21 points, while Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic added 16.
The outcome leaves Argentina undefeated and headed for a Friday match-up against the winner of USA-France, who tip off on Wednesday.
In another quarterfinal, Spain prevailed over Poland 90-78 to make the last four.
The results (quarterfinals): Argentina 97 (Scola 20, Campazzo 18, Garino 15) bt Serbia 87 (Bogdanovic 21, Bjelica 18, Jokic 16); Spain 90 (Rubio 19, Fernandez 16, Hernangomez 14) bt Poland 78 (Slaughter 19, Waczynsjki 15, Sokolowski 11).