Luis Scola provides spark as Argentina oust Serbia in Fiba World Cup

Argentina’s Luis Scola (R) handles the ball during the Basketball World Cup quarterfinal game between Argentina and Serbia in Dongguan on September 10, 2019. (Photo by Ye Aung Thu / AFP)

Argentina’s grand old man Luis Scola knocked down a series of key buckets in a fourth quarter surge Tuesday to crush Serbian hopes and propel the South Americans into the semi-finals of the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Scola, 39 years old and the last remaining member of Argentina’s “Golden Generation” that won the Olympics in 2004, finished with a team-high 20 points in the 97-87 win.

The outcome leaves Argentina undefeated in the World Cup, hosted this year by China, and headed for a Friday match-up against the winner of USA-France, who tipped off later on Tuesday.

For the Serbs, shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings lead all scorers with 21 points, while Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic added 16. 

The bigger Serbians, who had looked dominant in group play behind do-it-all centre Jokic, had to play catch-up against the quick Argentines throughout their quarterfinal contest in Dongguan in southern China.

Serbia finally grabbed a 70-68 fourth quarter lead on a three-pointer by the Memphis Grizzlies’ Marko Guduric and looked like they might make amends for a frustrating 81-69 second-round loss to Spain, the only blemish in their World Cup campaign to that point.

But that’s when Scola stepped up, scoring eight rapid-fire points in a 21-6 Argentina run that dropped the curtain on Serbia’s World Cup.

Argentina were the more fluid of the two teams throughout the game, moving the ball well and spreading out the scoring.

Serbia had looked like title contenders after demolishing their opponents in the group phases by a average 40.8 points per game. 

But the subsequent loss to Spain rocked the Serbs and they never seemed able to find a consistent rhythm against a pesky Argentine defence.

Jokic was valiant in defeat as his team relied heavily on him, but he got little support for most of the game from his team’s long-range shooters, who had been among the most accurate from the three-point range throughout the tournament.