FIBA 3-on-3 @ Youth Olympic Games - Day Seven (Boys' Quarters)

SINGAPORE (Youth Olympic Games) - Hello fellows, what time is it? Game time!



The Quarter-finals are on and now it's all about winning or going home.

Let's head directly to today's action:

Serbia - Lithuania 30-22

What happens when two basketball-crazy countries facing each other? Right! Lots of emotions and lots of physical play as it happened today on the court. The Serbs started fast into the game and led early by four points when Martynas Pauliukenas scored a last-second three-pointer to open up a festival from beyond the arc as both teams exchanged shots from the perimeter just before half-time. When Stefan Popovski nailed another three-point shot (18-13) right after the break, it looked like the Serbs may pull away, but a few moments later, Mantas Mockevicius brought the Lithuanians within one point (20-19). However, for the Lithuanian fans, who thought, that their team got the upper hand, the Serbs provided the answer through  Marko Radonjic and Nemanja Bezbradica as both secured Serbia a place in the semis thanks to their one-two scoring punch in the dying minutes of this thrilling quarterfinal match-up.

The complete box score can be found here.

Argentina - Greece 24-25

Chaos is obviously a Greek word. It described best the first minutes of the George Limniatis-coached team as Argentina quickly pulled away as the Greek were unable to convert from beyond the zone. Theodoros Tsiloulis repeatedly missed open shots while the Gauchos had Martin Massone and Juan Rossi netting in their shots just right under the basket to make it 13-1o at the break. Somehow, the halftime-speech of Limniatis woke up his players as Spyridon Panagiotaras drove a couple of times to the hoop to put Greece in front by one point. Argentina came right back through Massone but the Europeans now forced the South Americans to foul them in the paint which resulted in Juan Rossi's early departure with five fouls on his card. After several back-and-forth free-throw situations, the score was tied at 22 apiece when Argentina's  Zanzottera put the Albiceleste with two in front.  Panagiotaras took a chance and used his speed to clinch two points to even the score and after Tsiloulis converted a free-throw out of two given, the Greek were up by one less than 20 seconds to play. After a steal by Greece and a blocked shot which gave the South Americans the chance to score, the game ended with a two-pass violation in favor of the Greek who already thought the basket made by their opponents counted when the referee actually called it off.

The complete box score can be found here.

United States - Spain 28-18

One out of twelve tried three-point shots found it target for Spain. That pretty much describes it best why the Spaniards are not joining the last four in this tournament. Lluis Costa, who had been previously a force for Spain, never found his rhythm while the U.S. had an absolute beast in Angelo Chol as he provided dominance under the board and scared off the smaller built Europeans who tried to score only from the perimeter after Chol blocked their center twice.  Sterling Gibbs showed why he is the most talented guard in this tournament as he clearly had the edge over his counterparts and led the U.S. into the semis where they are facing the Serbs.

The complete box score can be found here.

Croatia - Israel 24-21

A pure nail-bitter as both teams got soft in the crucial minutes of the game and missed out opportunities to change the result. After a quick start by the Israelis into first half, the Croats came back thanks to Ramljak and Buovac to lead 15-11 at the break. Sergey Zelikman and Igor Mayor put Israel back on the map, but Ramljak netted in a three just to witness how Maayan puts Israel within one point. "Whatever!" That probably came into his mind when he took the ball and converted another three to put his country ahead again. As mentioned before, both teams lacked a scoring punch in the last seconds of the game and Croatia secured their semi-final appearance on the charity stripe to win it 24-21.

The complete box score can be found here.

Semi-final pairings for tomorrow:
USA - Serbia
Greece - Croatia

My daily favorite is our photographer Marko, who showed skills not only behind the camera but also in front of it.

Consolidation games:
India - Panama 28-22 (Goswani 10 - Grenald 11)
Singapore - South Africa 21-12 (Su 7 - Festile 4)
New Zealand - Iran  17-29 (Karena 9 - Sedighi 15)
Egypt - Puerto Rico 16-29 (Ibrahim 7 - Badillo 16)
Central African Republic - Philippines 13-22 (Mbakoutou 7 - Teng 9)
U.S. Virgin Islands - Turkey 16-31 (Jones 6 - Geyik 9)