Daily News
Basketball World Championships
Slovenia Beat Croatia, Earn Second Win
31.08.2010
Slovenia earned their second win at the World Basketball Championships in Istanbul on Monday by defeating Croatia 91:84 (16:18, 39:44, 65:59) in a hard-fought battle with the neighbours that remained open until the last moments. Slovenia has all but clinched a berth in the round of 16.While Slovenia earned another win in what is a growing rivalry with Croatia, it was a game of equals in the first half, with neither of the teams gaining significant lead.
The deadlock was however broken in the third quarter when Slovenia opened a nine-point lead by scoring three-pointers on four consecutive possessions.
The Croatians caught up at the beginning of the last period, but Slovenia made another run, feeding off around 4,000 supporters. The closing minutes turned into a free throw contest, in which Slovenia kept its cool.
Slovenia's top scorers were forward Uros Slokar and point guard Jaka Lakovic with 15 points each.
This was Slovenia's third consecutive win over Croatia at major tournaments, coming after wins at the European championships in Serbia in 2005 and in Poland in 2009.
Slovenia (two wins, one loss) will have a day off on Tuesday and will continue their campaign at the tournament on Wednesday against Brazil and wrap up the group stage on Thursday against Iran.