Serbia pushed, but holds off South Sudan 96-85 to earn quarterfinals berth; Greece also advances

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — Bogdan Bogdanovic had 28 points and Serbia beat South Sudan 96-85 on Saturday to punch its ticket for next week’s Olympic men’s basketball quarterfinals in Paris.

Nikola Jokic added 22 points and 13 rebounds for Serbia, which finished second in Group C behind the U.S. South Sudan’s loss means Greece gets the final wild card for the knockout round by virtue of having a better point differential over its three group-stage games than South Sudan.

Marial Shayok and Carlik Jones led South Sudan with 17 points each.

Throughout the game South Sudan played like a team whose tournament was on the line. Players dove on the floor in mass for loose balls and crowded around Jokic every time he got the ball deep.

There were also all-out effort plays, like Wenyen Gabriel sprinting for a chase-down block on Aleksa Avramovic during a fast-paced first quarter.

Serbia — ranked fourth in the world by FIBA — led 33rd-ranked South Sudan 47-44 at halftime.

Serbia’s lead remained in single digits in the third quarter, falling to 59-58 on a two-handed dunk by Gabriel. But Serbia found some offensive rhythm after a timeout and opened a 65-58 lead on back-to-back 3s by Bogdanovic.

Serbia led by five entering the fourth. And South Sudan kept coming, using a Peter Jok steal and alley-oop to Gabriel to bring the crowd to a roar and shrink the margin to a basket.

Serbia just kept making shots, using a 19-3 spurt to take a 91-74 lead with less than three minutes left.

South Sudan has prepared for the Olympic spotlight since last September when it finished the World Cup as Africa’s highest ranked team, earning an automatic spot for the Paris Games.

But despite entering the Olympics with the lowest world ranking, it was clear just making to France was never the end goal for this team. It wanted to prove it belonged on the world stage alongside the greatest players in the sport, like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Jokic.

South Sudan got the Americans’ attention even before the Games began when during an Olympic exhibition matchup in London it led the U.S. late before ultimately falling by a point.

South Sudan took the momentum from that game and announced its arrival in its Olympic opener with a surprising 90-79 victory over Puerto Rico. It turned a debut that began with organizers playing the wrong national anthem for South Sudan before the game into validation that it was ready to compete in one of the most talent-rich Olympic tournaments in history.

The U.S. imposed its will in its rematch with South Sudan, rolling to a 17-point win. Yet, it was close enough to keep the first-timers in the hunt for a wild card.

It didn’t materialize and the magical inaugural run at the Olympics is over.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games