Bogdan Bogdanovic of Serbia shoots the ball during the group D match between Italy and Serbia at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, Sept. 4, 2019. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)
FOSHAN, China, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Bogdan Bogdanovic's shooting spree spearheaded Serbia past Italy 92-77 for their third straight victory, sitting atop Group D at the FIBA World Cup here on Wednesday.
The Sacramento Kings shooting guard pocketed 31 points, making six of 11 from beyond the arc, along with four rebounds and five assists.
"He (Bogdanovic) was on fire," Serbia's head coach Sasha Djordjevic pointed out. "Defensively he was also really good and tough, and took it like an individual challenge to defend the great Italian guards.
"I'm not happy about the minutes that he played, because he played more than we thought what he should, but he is a tough kid, one of the toughest. He will be OK for the next round.
"His shooting was good, maybe a couple of his shooting choices were not that good, but he showed why his name is Bogdanovic," added Djordjevic.
Earlier, both sides had secured their last 16 berths with two wins in as many games. In the group-winner decider, Serbia controlled the pace and built its leading position since late in the first quarter and never ceded away.
Serbia's NBA All-Star center Nikola Jokic added 15 points and six boards.
Bogdanovic posed the biggest threat outside the paint ever since the tip-off, making all three attempts. Coming off the bench, Jokic added six points to compile a 28-23 lead for Serbia as the first quarter expired.
After Italy cut into a two-point lead, as expected, Jokic's substitution once again proved important as he sprung an 8-0 spurt for a double-digit advantage en route to going 50-42 up back to the locker room.
Danilo Gallinari scored all of Italy's 11 points after the break to trim the deficit to two, then Serbia ran away through solid performance on free-throw line, heading into the final quarter 70-57 ahead and sailed to victory.
Jokic was somewhat involved in a clash with Italy's guard Daniel Hackett, hearing the "MVP" hoot from the stands when serving his free throws.
For Djordjevic, "Italy is a great quality shooting team. We kind of struggled to get into our flow, but we never stopped defending, and a couple of players gave us energy on the side.
"At the beginning we felt a bit nervous. It was normal. It kind of felt like a quarterfinal for us, but we showed a better team at the end of the game. We didn't play good, but we controlled the game during the 40 minutes," commented Serbia's forward Nemanja Bjelica.
Gallinari led Italy's sheet with 26 points. Marco Belinelli and Hackett added 15 and 13 respectively.
"We know it's difficult to play against Serbia because they have power, size and move the ball for outside shots," admitted Italy's head coach Meo Sacchetti.
In an earlier match, Angola got past the Philippines 84-81 through overtime for its first win of the tournament.
