ISTANBUL (Türkiye) - The penultimate day of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2026 was completed with a thrilling Semi-Final showdown between Türkiye and Serbia, which highlighted another day of great games and even better individual performances.
Here are your top five performers from the Semi-Finals and Classification 5-8 games:
USA dominated the second half of their Semi-Final matchup with Australia for a 114-65 win and Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje had another outstanding game. The big man collected 23 points, 15 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block in 24 minutes for an efficiency of 34.
The other Semi-Final was a battle for the ages with Serbia coming out on top 76-71 over Türkiye to reach their first Final in history. Omer Kutluay was incredible again in the loss. The Turkish guard started slow but he ended up with 25 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals and an efficiency of 24.
At the other end, Nikola Kusturica shrugged off 0 of 9 on three-pointers for 25 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 block for Serbia, totalling 20 in efficiency in getting his nation to the Final.
Canada defeated Puerto Rico 101-82 in Classification 5-8 action with much of the credit going to Liam Mitakaro. The Canadian guard tallied 23 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks for an efficiency of 29.
France bounced back from their loss to Türkiye in the Quarter-Finals by beating Lithuania 73-59 in Classification 5-8. Nathan Soliman played a major role in the victory with 9 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks in registering an effficiency of 23.
FIBA