Basketball: Serbia pip Croatia to reach quarters

Serbia are the first team into the quarter-finals at the basketball world championships in Istanbul, Turkey, just overcoming fierce rivals Croatia 73-72 in a nail-biting second-round match at Sinan Erdem Arena.

With scores tied and one second left on the clock, Aleksander Rasic was fouled by Davur Kus and hit the first free-throw before deliberately missing the second, preventing Croatia from getting off a decent final shot.

Marko Popovic was superb for Croatia, finishing with 21 points, while NBA centre Nenad Krstic led the way for Serbia with 16 points and Rasic added 15.

The Serbians cruised into the second round after topping Group A with a 4-1 record, including a victory over Australia, while Croatia scraped in with a 2-3 clip that left them fourth in Group B.

But the underdog Croatians fought back from a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit to tie the scores on two Popovic free-throws with five seconds left.

Rasic then received a fortunate call from the referees and duly hit the winning basket from the charity stripe.

After a feisty opening to the game, Croatia took a surprise 27-19 lead into the first break.

The heavily-favoured Serbians then responded in the second period, embarking on a 10-2 run to tie the scores, but Croatia managed to just keep themselves in front 36-34 at halftime.

The third quarter was then a real arm-wrestle, featuring no less than 11 lead changes as the teams traded baskets until five quick points to end the term gave the Serbians a 54-50 edge.

Serbia appeared to have the match in control when they took a 61-54 lead early in the final term, but had to withstand a furious comeback to set-up a quarter-final clash with either Spain or Greece, who are due on court shortly.

- AAP