WORLD No. 6 Serbia became the first team to reach the semifinals of the FIBA World Cup 2023.

With Bogdan Bogdanovic leading the way, Serbia brought down previously unbeaten Lithuania, 87-68, in the highly-anticipated battle of European heavyweights at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Bogdanovic, the 6-5 Serbian who plays for the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA, topscored with 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting in 27 minutes of action.

Bogdanovic also achieved a milestone by surpassing 400 points in FIBA World Cup history, making him the sixth player to accomplish this feat in the 21st century.

He also continued his remarkable streak of sinking a three-pointer in each of his 23 FIBA World Cup appearances, sharing this record with Kirk Penney over the last three decades.

Filip Petruse added 17 points,six rebounds and two assists, while Stefan Jovic contributed 11 points and five assists for Serbia, which bounced back from their loss to Italy to reach the quarterfinals for the fourth straight time, including second place in 2014.

Jovic had three crucial triples during the third quarter.

Tadas Sederkerskis carried the fight for Lithuania with 14 points and nine rebounds, followed by Rokas Jokubaitis with 13 points and nine assists and NBA veteran Jonas Valanciunas with 11 points and four rebounds.

Actually, Serbia shot better from the three-point region than Lithuania, making 9-of-22 attempts for 41 percent.

The Lithuanians, who entered the game with a tournament-high 46.4 percent shooting from the same long distance, managed only 9-of-28 for 32 percent.

Bolstered by Bogdanovic’s stellar play, Serbia established an 11-point lead 49-38 at halftime. This dominance adhered to Serbia’s tradition of securing victory when holding a double-digit advantage at the halfway mark, a feat they have achieved 14 times in FIBA World Cup history

Serbia will now wait for the winner of Wednesday’s clash between the Luka Doncic-led Slovenia and the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-powered Canada in the semis.

Lithuania, which pulled the rug from under five-time chmpion United States, will meet the loser between Canada and Slovenia to fetermine their final ranking.

The scores;

Serbia (87) – Bogdanovic 21, Petrusev 17, S. Jovic 11, Guduric 9, Milutinov 9, Avramovic 8, N.Jovic 8, Davidovac 2, Marinkovic 1, Ristic 1, Dobric 0.
Lithuania (68) – Sedekerskis 14, Jokubaitis 13, Valanciunas 11, Brazdeikis 11, Normantas 8, Kuzminskas 6, Dimsa 3, Motiejunas 2, Kariniauskas 0, Maldunas 0.
Quarterscores: 24-25, 49-38, 73-55, 87-68

Games Wednesday:

(Mall of Asia Arena)
4:45 p.m. — Germany vs.Latvia
8:30 p.m. — Canada vs. Slovenia