Canada cruised to the 2023 FIBA World Cup semifinals after eliminating Luka Doncic and his Slovenia aspect, 100-89, of their knockout quarterfinals match on Wednesday on the Mall of Asia Arena.
Canada will face one other heavyweight in Serbia within the semifinals whereas USA and Germany will tangle within the different closing 4 bracket. Slovenia, alternatively, will nonetheless play within the classification spherical.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander poured in a monster double-double outing of 31 factors and 10 rebounds alongside 4 assists and two steals.
Canada rode a robust third quarter with Gilgeous-Alexander, alongside RJ Barrett and Kelly Olynyk, bringing the star-studded squad to a 77-61 result in break away from a 50-50 halftime impasse.
But Slovenia acquired its act collectively as Doncic and Bine Prepelic hit well timed baskets as they trimmed the deficit to a single digit earlier than heading to the fourth, 80-71.
A Dillon Brooks triple made it one other 16-point lead for Canada, 92-76, earlier than the Houston Rockets star was whistled for a disqualifying foul for taunting with 7:06 left within the recreation.
Shortly after, Doncic was additionally ejected for getting his second technical foul. Still, Slovenia made some runs with Gregor Hrovat’s back-to-back baskets chopping their deficit to 9, 94-85.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who performs for the Oklahoma City Thunder, then fueled a private 4-0 run to ship Canada to a 98-85 cushion within the closing 2:17 en path to the win.
—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
