BELGRADE (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Serbia exhibited their strength in the second half in pulling away for a 105-87 victory over Georgia for their second straight home win to start the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers. 

It was the leadership duo of Miroslav Raduljica and Milan Macvan and youngster Stefan Peno that took care of business for Serbia, who trailed 45-44 at the break at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade. After beating Austria to start their Group G campaign, the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 runners-up improved to 2-0 while Georgia dropped to 0-2 with a second straight loss on the road - having lost their opener in Germany. 

Turning point: Georgia had been hanging close for three quarters but Serbia started to pull away a bit late in the third. With the gap trimmed down to eight points early in the fourth, Macvan and Marko Simonovic nailed back-to-back three-pointers to push the home side's advantage to 80-66 with eight minutes to play. Georgia would not get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Game hero: Raduljica was dominant throughout and wore down the Georgians with 28 points including hitting 14 of 18 free throws. He also picked up 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Macvan, for his part, had 18 points and 6 assists while the 20-year-old Peno collected 17 points, 9 assists and 3 steals.

Stats don't lie: Serbia turned the ball over only 10 times compared to 19 for Georgia, but even more important was Serbia hitting 34 of 47 foul shots, compared to 15 of 24 for Georgia.

Game notes: Georgia were up to the challenge in first half, especially Mike Dixon, who scored 23 points of his 36 points in the first 20 minutes. The game was tight through the first 20 minutes, with neither team able to lead by more than six points and the visitors actually leading 45-44 at intermission. Serbia were only up 62-59 but Georgia didn't do themselves any favors in missing six free throws as Serbia went on a 12-5 run to close the third quarter. And the fourth quarter was all Serbia.

They said it: "It is an important victory. I don't know if all of them understand how important this is, but this is really something big for all of us. I am living all this with huge emotions and so happy and proud to coach this group of players - veterans and less veterans. I am so happy to see them (the less experienced players) play without fear. It is so normal for them to start the game with a little bit of hesitation, missing nine free throws in the first half which shows all the pressure that we had. We knew that Georgia is a tough team, a shooting team. We were preparing for everything but we also made some defensive mistakes. But as the biggest issue, I'm so thrilled and I repeat, this is really huge for me personally and for all of them. I thank each and every player from my side as a person and as their coach." - Serbia head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic

"Serbia have a very good team. They have a very good coach. They deserve to win the game today because they played better. Unfortunately for us, we started with two games on the road, and we have one more game on the road in the second window. We have to be concentrated to work harder. I hope we will be luckier in the second window to have more players - also because of injuries. Congratulation to my players. I would like to thank them for their hard work on the court - even though we were only together a few days and even though we played against very experienced players, we did a good job. I wish all the best to Serbia in the future. Congratulations to the crowd, it is always a very nice atmosphere here." - Georgia head coach Ilias Zouros

FIBA