EuroBasket - Latvia lord it over Ukraine

LJUBLJANA (EuroBasket/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Latvia, Serbia and Lithuania opened the second phase of EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia with victories on Wednesday as teams tried to step up their bids to reach the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

The Latvians lowered the boom on Ukraine in the first Group E game of the day, 85-51.

The Baltic side, who finished third in Group B and carried no victories into the Second Round since none of the teams they beat advanced, got into a shooting rhythm early and opened a 24-11 lead.

By halftime, Ainars Bagatskis' team was on top 42-22 and they blew Ukraine out in the third quarter, outscoring them 23-10.

Kristaps Janicenoks connected on all four of his attempts from long range and finished with a game-high 14 points for Latvia.

As a team, the Latvians made 15 of 29 from the arc.

"Before the game, we said the most important thing was to play aggressively and to play smart, with patience," Bagatskis said.

"Basically we did a good job, we played good defense and smart on offense. We scored some tough shots, but the most important was the good defense."

Ukraine didn't look at all like a team that had won four of its five games in the opening round.

Serbia finished first in Group E but they didn't put away underdogs Belgium, the third-place team from Group A, until the last minute.

Eddy Casteels' team played smart from start to finish.

The Lions controlled the tempo and executed their offense, and Serbia weren't able to have any breathing room until Stefan Markovic drilled a three-pointer with 2:19 remaining for a 68-63 lead.

Serbia then eased to a 76-69 victory.

Markovic hit three of four shots from the arc and finished with 15 points while Nenad Krstic had 17 points.

Serbia, who started Group E play with two wins, now have three and look very good bets to play in the Quarter-Finals although Dusan Ivkovic's team was not convincing.

"Good teams, even when they play bad, find a way to win," Krstic said.

"I think we are growing as a team.

"Definitely we have so many things to improve. Now we have to forget about this game."

The top four sides in Group E and F will make it to the Quarter-Finals.

In the third game of the day, France also entered the second phase with a couple of wins after finishing top of Group A yet never got into sync on offense against Lithuania, losing out 76-62.

They fell behind in the first quarter and did not catch up,

Reinaldas Seibutis had 15 points to lead Lithuania's balanced scoring attack, while Mindaugas Kuzminskas came off the bench and provided a spark on both ends of the floor.

He finished with 10 points and four rebounds.

Six places are on offer at the EuroBasket for the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

On Thursday, Group F action gets underway with Finland taking on Croatia, Greece play Spain and tournament hosts Slovenia face Italy.

For full and in-depth coverage of EuroBasket 2013, go to the official website http://www.eurobasket2013.org.

FIBA