SERBIA made it back to the final of the FIBA World Cup after nine long years — even without two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.

Jokic, who led the Denver Nuggets to the NBA title early this year, was not in Manila. Fortunately, Bogdan Bogdanovic is here.

Bogdanovic finished with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting and Serbia brought down Canada, 95-86, to advance to the final for the first time since 2014.

The 6-5 Atlanta Hawks mainstay was clearly the big difference as he outduelled another certified NBA superstar, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Canada, infront of a wildly-cheering crowd of 8,630 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Bogdanovic, also the top scorer in Serbia’s convincing 87-68 win over Lithuania in the quarterfinals last Tuesday, also had four rebounds, three assists and three steals in another all-around performance.

With three 3-pointers against Canada, Bogdanovic has also now made 70 threes in the FIBA World Cup, the most 3-pointers made in the competition over the last 30 years. He has also made at least one three-pointer in 24 consecutive World Cup games.

Bogdanovic’s 16 steals this year also made him the Serbian player with most steals in a single World Cup competition according to FIBA.

His Canadian counterpart, Gilgeous- Alexander, was held to only 15 points — 10 points below his average of 25.0 points in Canada’s previous games.

The 6-6 guard from the Oklahoma City Thunder, who had back-to-back 30+ games against deposed champion Spain and Slovenia, was limited to only 4-of-8 shooting in 34 minutes by the tight defense of Aleksa Avramovic.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who had been averaging 10.2 points per first half in his six previous World Cup appearances. endured his lowest-scoring half with only five points and three fouls.

The Toronto-born Gilgeous-Alexander, however, had a game-high nine assists.

New York Knicks guard RJ Barrett was the top scorer for Canada with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting in 32 minutes, followed by Dillon Brooks with 16 points and three rebounds and several defensive stops despite committing four fouls.

Nikola Milutinov and Ognjen Dobric provided ample scoring support for Serbia, finishing with 16 points apiece.

Milutinoc also had 10 of Serbia’s 33 rebounds.

Aside from making a significant impact by effectively containing Gilgeous- Alexander, Avramovic added 10 points for the winnes.

The dynamic duo of Bogdanovic and \Milutinov actually carried much of Serbia’s offensive load in the first two quarters as they combined to score 26 points out of Serbia’s total of 52.

The Balkan country finished the first half with an 11-4 scoring run, establishing a commanding 13-point lead, 52-39 heading into the halftime.

The lead was actually 15 points — 52-37 — after two free throws by Avramovic before Barrett cut it to 13 with a dunk with three seconds left.

That was also the biggest deficit Canada had faced in this tournament after staring at 12-point disadvantages against Latvia and Spain before rallying to win.

Despite a spirited start to the third quarter by the Canadians, where they launched an 11-5 scoring run, the Serbians managed to maintain control of the game. Brooks and Kelly Olynyk were both forced to sit on the bench after receiving their fourth fouls.

Serbia was still ahead, 75-63 after three quarters.

A driving layup by Avramovic followed by a three-pointer by Marko Guduric at the start of the fourth quarter put the Serbians ahead by 17 points, 80-63.

A counter 13-6 run by Canada — highlighted by Brooks’s three-pointer — cut the deficit to 76-86 with still 5:09 left.

But Bogdanovic answered back with a 5-0 run of his own — a driving layup and a step-back 3-pointer — to make it 91-76. with four minutes remaining.

Brooks completed a three-point play to put Canada to within 79-91 before Dejan Davidovac and Bogdanovic added four more points to give Serbia a 95-79 advantage.

Canada never recoevred from there.

The scores:
Serbia (95)– Bogdanovic 23, Milutinov 16, Dobric 16, Guduric 12, Avramovic 10, N. Jovic 8, Davidovac 4, Marinkovic 4, S. Jovic 2. Canada (86)– Barrett 23, Brooks 16, Gilgeous-Alexander 15, Alexander-Walker 10, Olynyk 9, Edey 5, Powell 5, Dort 3, Ejim 0, Alexander 0, Bell-Haynes 0, Scrubb 0. Quarterscores: 23-15, 52-39, 75-63, 95-86.