Fantastic Fontecchio, defense stands strong - Italy grab another win over Serbia

MANILA (Philippines) - Italy continue to have Serbia's number as they slowed down the Balkan side's offense and Simone Fontecchio poured in 30 points for a 78-76 win to start the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Second Round Group I and give Italy good chances of reaching the Quarter-Finals.

Italy rallied from 16 points down to jump to 3-1 in the Second Round while defeating Serbia for the third straight time - following the 2021 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Belgrade Final and FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Round of 16. Serbia, who had won their previous seven games against Italy before that, dropped to 3-1.

Game Highlights

Turning Point: Italy came out on fire from deep and opened a 10-point first quarter lead which was gone by early in the second quarter. The game was tight the rest of the first half but Serbia broke it open with an 18-4 surge to star the third quarter for a 60-44 lead.

Italy punched right back with 17-2 run to pull within 62-61 early in the fourth quarter - Luigi Datome scoring 10 points in 90 seconds. The Italians' momentum continued out to a 28-7 spurt and a 72-65 cushion. Marko Guduric nailed a triple with 50 seconds to make it 76-74 only to have Fontecchio answer with 33 seconds to go.

TCL Player of the Game: Simone Fontecchio was there all game for the Italians and was rewarded with the TCL Player of the Game award. He collected 30 points on 11-of-15 shooting and 6-of-8 free throws, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. He scored tough shot after tough shot after tough shot on pure one-on-one situations. Very high level performance from him. Already a classic.

Stats Don't Lie: Italy managed to slow down Serbia's high-octane offense, limiting them to 76 points - 28.7 points below their average of 104.7. The Serbs also shot just 23 percent from long range with Bogdan Bogdanovic making just 1-of-13 three-pointers.

Bottom Line:  Italy improved greatly their chances of getting into the Quarter-Finals and they will finish off the Second Round play on Sunday September 4. Serbia will look to bounce back from their first loss as they face off against Group A winners Dominican Republic.

They Said:  "I want to congratulate Serbia because they played really good. We respect all those guys and their basketball. We respect Serbia, really, their basketball and everything. And we are proud because of that respect. And I am so proud of my players because they never give up. We were down 16 points and it was not easy, especially against them." - Italy coach Gianmarco Pozzecco

"We are really happy about the win. We really did an amazing job as a team, especially in the third quarter down 16. We never gave up. This simply shows the heart of this team, the will of this team. We just don't give up. We don't care if we are down 16. We don't care how bad we are playing. We just keep playing, keep fighting until the end." - Italy forward Simone Fontecchio

"It feels good but we haven't done anything yet so we need to win another game to overcome the group and But it feels good to win always." -Italy center Nicolo Melli

"We believed. I mean they were up but we kept on playing, kept on playing, at the end we made the right plays and I'm proud of this group of guys who keep believing. We are not the best team of course at the World Cup but we keep believing and it was a good night for us. Of course we didn't achieve nothing yet. We still need to be to beat Puerto Rico next game. I hope for the other results but today we celebrate." - Italy forward Luigi Datome

"We played a tough game against an excellent team like Italy. We were up and down a little. We didn't control our game, especially where we had a good lead and were in a good rhythm. Like always we wanted to win the game. But in the end, we have to win the last game." - Serbia coach Svetislav Pesic

"We knew that it would be a really tough game. We had some good moments, especially in the third quarter, but we lost the momentum. They found a way to get back into the game and win this game. We has so many mistakes in the second half. We let them score so many easy points. And we made stupid mistakes on offense and defense and that is why we lost." - Serbia forward Ognjen Dobric

Press Conference:

FIBA