NBA superstar Luka Doncic provided one more magical moment in the FIBA World Cup 2023, finishing with a near triple-double and leading Slovenia to a dramatic 89-85 win over Italy at the Mall of Asia Arena.

A four-time NBA All Star, Doncic finished with 29 points on 8-of-15 shooting, 10 rebounds and eight assists in 38 minutes of action to power Slovenia to seventh place in the prestigious 32-nation competition.

Although they failed to reach the semis and play for the bigger prizes at stake, Slovenia’s 5-3 record matched their previous best showing in the FIBA World Cup — seventh – during the 2014 edition in Spain when they still did not have Doncic in the line-up.

The seventh-place finish was also a good addition to Slovenia’s gold medal-winning performance at 2017 EuroBasket in Istanbul and fourth-place finish in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.

And Doncic?

The 6-7 Dallas Mavericks superstar made sure his short stay in Manila will be worth remembering.

Doncic etched his name in the history book as the first player in the last three decades to tally 200+ points, 50+ rebounds, and 40+ assists during a single FIBA World Cup tournament.

Only 11 other players — from Shin Dong Pa of Korea in 1970 to Kevin Durant of the United States -in 2010 — achieved the rare feat.

Doncic also attempted 90 free throws in the championship, the most for a player in a single tournament over the previous 30 years.

Mike Tobey added 12 points and three rebounds while Zoran Dragic had 10 points and four rebounds for Slovenia, which failed to advance to the semis after losing to Canada, 89-100, in their quarterfinal battle last Sept. 6.

Marco Spissu came through with 22 points on 6-of-11 three-point shooting, four assists and three rebounds in 32 minutes of playing, while NBA player Simone Fontecchio added 16 points.

Achille Polonara and Giampaolo Ricci contributed with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

The game also marked the farewell performance of Luigi Datome, the 35-year-old Italian forward who received a standing ovation from the fans with still 3:26 left in the game.

Datome, a three-time Italian League champion, is set to retire from professional basketball.

The Slovenia-Italy game provided a lot of drama on the penultimate playing day of the two-week long competition.

Slovenia opened up as many as 15-point lead in the third quarter, but Italy came charging back to tie the score at 76-all on a layup by Matteo Spagnolo with 4:15 remaining.

The score was still tied at 83-all with 1:21 left.

But after a tip-in by Giampaolo Ricci put the Italians back on the driver’s seat at 85-83, Doncic assisted on Jakob Cebasek‘s back-breaking corner thee-pointer to make it 86-85 for Slovenia with 40 seocnds remaining.

Italy still had a chance, but Fontecchio was whistled for an offensive foul while forcing his way to the basket with 19 ticks left and Gregor Hrovat nailed crucial free throws to give Slovenia an 88-85 lead.

A bad pass by Spissu and a split by Dragic on the other end finalized the score.

The scores:

Slovenia (89) – Doncic 29, Tobey 12, Dragic 10, Dimec 8, Prepelic 7, Nikolic 7, Cebasek 6, Hrovat 5, Glas 3, Samar 2
Italy (85) – Spissu 22, Fontecchio 16, Polonara 13, Ricci 11, Spagnolo 6, Melli 6, Tonut 4, Procida 3, Pajola 3, Datome 1, Severini 0, Diouf 0.
Quarterscores: 15-18, 42-41, 70-60, 89-85.