FIBA U17 - Serbia reach first U17 Worlds Semi-Final, set up clash with USA

DUBAI (FIBA U17 World Championship) - Serbia booked their first-ever spot in the last four at a FIBA U17 World Championship as they knocked off Canada to set up a Semi-Final showdown against the two-time undefeated reigning champions United States on Friday, while Australia will take on Spain in the other Semi-Final.

Serbia v Canada
Serbia finished their Quarter-Final against strong to register a 71-64 win. Vanja Marinkovic nailed five three-pointers in scoring 18 points to lead the Serbs while Stefan Peno collected 16 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals and Vojislav Stojanovic added 15 points for the Europeans.

Canada move into the Classification Games 5-8 despite Jamal Murray pouring in 24 points to go with eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. They will next face China.

Serbia closed the first quarter with the final six points for a 27-16 lead after 10 minutes. They extended the advantage to 13 points, 39-26, in the second period before Canada answered with a 10-0 run to trim it to three points.

The Serbs led 47-40 at the intermission.

Murray spearheaded a 13-0 Canada run to start the second half for a 53-47 lead and the margin was 55-52 after three quarters.

Serbia eventually tied the game at 60-60 with four minutes left and they went ahead 67-62 on a three-ball by Marinkovic with 1:33 minutes remaining. With Murray slowed down by a sore left ankle, Canada went scoreless the final 1:21 minutes.

USA v China
The USA cruised into the last four with a 113-71 win over China. Henry Ellenson paced five Americans in double digits with 21 points, while Diamond Stone scored 17 points, Malik Newman added 16 and Harry Giles chipped in with a dozen in the win.

The USA have never lost in the history of the FIBA U17 World Championship.

China got 16 points from Fu Hao and 14 from Hu Jianqiu while Zhao Yinhao was held to 11 points - 11 below his average.

The Americans pulled away right away in the first quarter, building a 20-point lead 30-10. And it was 30-11 after 10 minutes.

After China had fought back to within 39-25, USA coach Don Showalter called a time-out, saying "Now they're back in the game."

His team responded by closing out the first half on a 12-0 run for a 51-25 lead at the break.

A 16-0 spurt finished the 30-2 run spanning the second and third quarters for a 69-27 advantage. China never threatened after that.

Australia v Puerto Rico
Australia moved within a step of returning to the Final as they dominated Puerto Rico, 76-52, in their Quarter-Final.

Dejan Vasiljevic scored 19 of his 21 points in the first half to go with 13 rebounds while Isaac Humphries had 14 of his 16 points after the break along with 11 rebounds to lead Australia.

Puerto Rico, who got 18 points and nine rebounds from Araldo Toro, will square off against France in Friday's Classification Games 5-8.

Vasiljevic had tallied 17 points on 6 of 26 shooting in his last two games after hitting 41 points in his first two contests. But he nailed his first three three-pointers in scoring 11 points in the first quarter alone, with the team scoring the last eight points of the period for a 23-12 lead.

Australia got production from a number of players in the second quarter as the cushion grew to as many as 17 points, 38-21. It was 41-26 at the break.

Puerto Rico worked hard to get back into the game and a three-ball from Toro trimmed the deficit to 46-38.

But Australia got a strong effort from Humphries in after the break as the big man scored nine points in the third quarter period and the team used an 11-2 run to open a 57-40 cushion.

Heading into the final frame up 57-44, Australia pushed the gap up to 20 points before Puerto Rico got it back to 64-51, but that's as close as they would get.

Spain v France
Spain wasted a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter but fought back to down European rivals France, 71-67, and reach the Semi-Finals where they will battle Australia for a spot in the Final.

Spain, who lost in the top four at the 2012 FIBA U17 Worlds and ended up taking fourth place, were paced by 20 points from Sergi Garcia while Ramon Vila added 15 points and Pablo Perez chipped in with 12. The duo of Santiago Yusta and Xabi Lopez-Arosteguj were held to just eight combined points - 19.3 points fewer than the average for the Spaniards' two leading scorers.

Stephane Gombauld scored 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter while grabbing 11 rebounds but couldn't prevent the French defeat which means they move into the Classification Games 5-8. Amine Noua had 19 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

Neither team could really gain an advantage in the first quarter with the biggest lead being six points for France at 11-5. Perez and Garcia were the main men for Spain while Noua led the French as there were six lead changes in the opening period and one tie with the French ahead 22-17 after 10 minutes.

The game remained close in the second quarter with three more lead changes and three ties. Spain led 32-30 with two minutes left in the half when Jorge Turbica and Garcia both nailed three-pointers in an 8-3 run to close the quarter for a 40-33 advantage at the break.

France trimmed the deficit to 44-38 early in the second half, but Spain answered with the next seven points for a 51-38 lead, which turned to 58-47 after three quarters.

Spain were up 59-49 early in the fourth quarter when the team went cold offensively, failing to score for more than six minutes as Gombauld reeled off nine points in a 12-0 run to edge France back in front, 61-59.

A Garcia jumper ended the Spaniards' drought and Garcia and Perez both nailed three-balls for a 67-65 lead.

After a French turnover, Perez drove to the rim for a basket and Garcia then made two free throws with 6.8 seconds to ice the game at 71-67.

Meanwhile, in the Classification Games 9-16, Italy cruised past Japan 83-56, Angola saw off hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE) 89-47, Argentina got the better of the Philippines 84-71 and Greece beat Egypt 67-50.

FIBA