BARCELONA (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - For Slovenia head coach Jure Zdovc, Saturday's 71-61 Round of 16 win over the Dominican Republic was like the Final of the FIBA Basketball World Cup itself.

At least that's the way the 48-year-old made it sound after his team reached the Quarter-Finals of FIBA's flagship event for the second consecutive time.

I want to thank my players for the win. - Zdovc

"As a coach, this was the most important game of my life," he said recalling the team's defeat to Lithuania to close their Group D campaign in Gran Canaria.

In that game, Lithuania shut down Slovenia 12-2 in the final quarter of that game.

"I think the players were still worried about what happened against Lithuania. That's why we were too keyed up at the start and didn't look good at all," he explained.

"But I'm happy this game happened so fast. So we can forget what happened and move on."

Zoran Dragic, who led the Slovenian charge with a game-high 18 points, echoed his coach's feelings.

"We were overdoing things at the start of the game. And we made too many mistakes," said the Unicaja Malaga wingman.

There was nothing major that we changed - Dragic

"The coach told us to calm down and concentrate on the game at hand," Dragic said of the transformation in Slovenia's approach between the first and second quarters.

Dominican Republic head coach Orlando Antigua said that small details made all the difference.

"(Francisco) Garcia picked up two early fouls and we couldn't play him for as long we normally do. Inspite of that, we came as close as one lay up to tie the score," he said.

"I'm proud of my team for what they achieved here. For us (Dominican Republic), coming to the (FIBA Basketball) World Cup was an achievement in itself.

"Then we made it out of what I believe was one of the tougher groups. And then now, we played really well against a top class team. I can't ask for more."

FIBA