RUS/CRO/JOR/NZL – Russians beat Croatia in Zadar final

ZADAR (2010 FIBA World Championship) - Russia served notice that they’ll be a force to be reckoned with at the FIBA World Championship after beating hosts Croatia to win the Zadar tournament.

David Blatt's side, following an 83-63 rout of Jordan and a 67-65 defeat to New Zealand, prevailed 82-76 over the Croatians.

The starting point guard on last year's EuroBasket team, Sergey Bykov, poured in 18 points for the Russians.

Maybe the most important man in Russian basketball, Viktor Khryapa, had 17, five rebounds and three assists in the win.

The numbers that jump off the stat sheet are the 19 for 20 at the free-throw line for Russia, while Croatia were 18 of 26.

Russia returned to Moscow on Monday and were due to leave for Ankara, Turkey, in midweek.

Blatt's side needed a wild card to play at the FIBA World Championship.

The Russians will take on Greece, Puerto Rico, Ivory Coast, China and hosts Turkey in Group C.

Croatia, unbeaten in their preparations before the loss to Russia, had led by seven points but weren't able to press home the advantage.

Veteran guard Marko Popovic said: "It's good that it happened now because I know from personal experience that we have in previous years won many tournaments and then in the major competitions fallen short.

"We're going to Turkey to play the best we can and we'll see how far we can go."

Croatia will compete in Group B against the United States, Brazil, Slovenia, Iran and Tunisia.

Jordan, meanwhile, finished their tournament on a high with a 65-62 win over New Zealand.

After going to half-time with a 33-25 lead, Mario Palma's side extended the advantage to 51-39 by the end of the third quarter.

New Zealand clawed their way back to 64-62 but failed to register a point over the last 60 seconds.

For the winners, Sam Daghlas had 17 points while Rasheim Wright and Zaid Abbaas each poured in 14.

Tall Blacks star Kirk Penney, who had 36 in the triumph over Russia, finished with 17 points against Jordan.

Tait Lindsay chipped in 10 while veteran forward Pero Cameron played 10 minutes and finished with two points.

New Zealand fell to Croatia in their meeting on Saturday, 93-88.

FIBA

• On Twitter | On Facebook l On FIBA tv