MANILA – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander caught fire in the endgame as Canada dethroned Spain, 88-85, to clinch a quarterfinals seat in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup on late Sunday night at the Jakarta Arena in Indonesia.
With the score tied at 80-all after a triple by teammate Dillon Brooks, Gilgeous-Alexander scored on a go-ahead basket and two free throws to give Canada an 84-80 lead with under a minute left.
Spain managed to cut it to 82-84 with a layup from Juan Nunez but two free throws by Gilgeous-Alexander widened Canada’s lead to 86-82 but Spain made its last push with a triple from Santi Aldama to cut it to 85-86 with five seconds left.
Gilgeous-Alexander calmly drained two free throws to make it an 88-85 advantage for Canada before Spain’s Alex Abrines missed on a three-pointer from long range at the buzzer.
The Oklahoma City Thunder guard finished with 30 points and seven assists, while Brooks added 22 markers, including three outside shots, as Canada heads to the quarterfinals against Germany.
Willy Hernangomez top-scored with 25 points to go with six rebounds and three assists, while Aldama and Abrines contributed 20 and 11 markers, respectively, for the 2019 titlist Spain.
Serbia also clinched a spot in the round-of-eight after a wire-to-wire 112-79 domination of the Dominican Republic during their round-of-16 encounter at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Serbians did not allow the Dominicana to have a taste of the lead during the contest with the former even establishing its largest lead at 95-57 on an alley oop shot of Ognjen Dobric early in the fourth quarter.
Bogdan Bogdanovic top-scored for Serbia with 20 points, with three outside conversions, Nikola Milutinov and Vanja Marinkovic added 16 markers apiece, while Filip Petrusev added 14 points.
Germany, meanwhile, handed Slovenia its first loss in the World Cup with a 100-71 annihilation in Okinawa, Japan. Dennis Schroder had double-double 24 points and 10 assists to lead the Germans./PN
BOX SCORE:
CANADA 88 – Gilgeous-Alexander 30, Brooks 22, Barrett 16, Powell 6, Olynyk 6, Alexander-Walker 5, Dort 3, Alexander 0, Bell-Haynes 0, Ejim 0.
SPAIN 85 – W. Hernangomez 25, Aldama 20, Abrines 11, Brizuela 8, J. Hernangomez 4, Garuba 4, Nunez 4, Diaz 3, Fernandez 3, Claver 3, Llull 0.
Quarterscores: 21-21, 38-48, 61-73, 88-85.
