CRO/SRB – Serbia win clash of the Balkans

RIGA (2011 FIBA U19 World Championship) – Point guard Aleksander Cvetkovic has shown why he is one of the hottest young talents in Europe right now, leading Serbia to a five point victory over rivals Croatia.
 
With the game poised to go either way in the final few minutes, Cvetkovic stepped up to the mark for Serbia, completing a sweet cross-over play for three points before following it up by beating two defenders on the way to the basket for a difficult lay-up, leaving Serbia in the box seat with time nearly up.
 
Croatia had done well to bring themselves back into the game after trailing for most of it but when big man Dario Saric fouled out midway through the final quarter an already tough assignment just become all the more difficult.
 
Following the match, Croatian assistant coach Roko Caktas put the loss down to his team’s transitioning. “The reason for our loss was in our transition. We lost too many points due to lay-ups and also second chance points. Team Serbia is very good and we did not manage to defend some of their key players.”
 
This is Serbia’s first win in the second stage of the tournament and they now move onto eight points alongside Croatia. With their final group match coming against Canada they will be confident of moving through to the quarter finals. The assignment is a little more difficult for Croatia as they come up against USA in their final match. Their situation will be assisted however by a Serbian victory which will see them remain a point in front of Canada and take the fourth and final quarter final spot up for grabs in Group F.

FIBA