By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Italy prevailed after a thriller in the second game of the “Acropolis” tournament in Athens by beating Serbia 89-88.
Despite being down 17 in the first half, Italy kept fighting and managed to win by surviving a last-second shot by Bogdan Bogdanovic.
The Serbian sharpshooter hit a big-time three with eight seconds left to cut the lead to 89-88, right when Aleksa Avramovic won an offensive foul giving a chance for Serbia to win the game, but Bogdanovic missed a midrange shot from the elbow and also the chance to save the day.
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Utah’s Simone Fontecchio was the most effective scorer in the Italian team with 13 points, while Achille Polonara had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Young Nikola Jovic from Miami played a great match for Serbia and finished with 18 points, while Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 14.
Serbia and Italy could face each other in the World Cup in Manila after the group stage of the tournament.
“Both teams played hard and deserve the best”, said Italian coach Gianmarco Pozzecco who beat with Italy the Serbs also in last year’s Eurobasket.
As he added: “It was a friendly game, but I’m very happy because we fought against one of the best teams in the world. We are satisfied because all my players played with pride, they love playing with the national emblem and they love each other. That’s the most important thing right now in basketball, where everything is more or less business”.