Luka Doncic and Slovenia have received nothing but love from Filipino fans ever since their arrival in the Philippines.
On Saturday evening, the Junaki, just as Doncic promised, finally repaid the love showered upon them with an 89-85 victory over Italy in their final game in the FIBA Basketball World Cup classification round at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
After suffering three consecutive losses, the Dallas Mavericks superstar made sure to leave it all out on the court, flirting with a triple-double by recording 29 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists, along with three steals in Slovenia’s first victory in Manila.
“First of all, I’d like to congratulate Italy for the amazing tournament they had, especially in the first part where they basically defeated everyone, including Serbia, who is currently playing in the finals,” said Slovenia head coach Aleksander Sekulic.
“Regarding the game, I really enjoyed it this time. In the Philippines, we had amazing support. Thanks to the fans who supported us and made us feel like we were playing at home,” he added.
Slovenia’s triumph also marked the end of Italy team captain Luigi Datome’s national team career. He ended his career with 203 international caps.
The win, which had eluded them after their impressive 4-0 start to the tournament, almost slipped away from the Slovenians’ grasp when the Italians opened the fourth quarter with a blistering 16-6 run, tying the game at 76-all.
After going back and forth, the Junaki found themselves trailing by two points with 40 seconds left.
Doncic, who was being hounded by two Italian defenders, found Jakob Cebasek wide open in the left corner. Cebasek drained a crucial triple, giving the Slovenians an 86-85 lead.
Gregor Hrovat then nailed two free throws to extend the lead to three, 88-85, before Simone Fontecchio committed a crucial turnover with 6.9 seconds remaining. Zoran Dragic sealed the game by splitting his free throws after a foul by Nico Melli.
Mike Tobey contributed 12 points for the Junaki, while Dragic added 10 points and four boards in the victory, allowing Slovenia to tie its seventh-place campaign from the 2014 edition of the world tournament in Spain.
On the other hand, Marco Spissu led the Azzurri, making six triples to finish with a team-high 22 points, along with four assists and three boards.
Simone Fontecchio, who missed the team’s previous match due to illness, scored 16 points, while Achille Polonara had 13 points and seven boards in the loss.
This result relegated Italy to 8th place, still two spots higher than their 10th-place finish in 2019.
The Scores:
Slovenia 89 – Doncic 29, Tobey 12, Dragic 10, Dimec 8, Prepelic B. 7, Nikolic 7, Cebasek 6, Hrovat 5, Glas 3, Samar 2.
Italy 85 – Spissu 22, Fontecchio 16, Polonara 13, Ricci 11, Spagnolo 6, Melli 6, Tonut 4, Procida 3, Pajola 3, Datome 1, Diouf 0, Severini 0.
Quarterscores: 15-18; 42-41; 70-60; 89-85
