FIBA World Cup: Team USA can’t overcome lethargic start, loses to Serbia
By Phil Watson
Czech Republic bounces back to beat Poland
At Shanghai, Tomas Satoransky of the Chicago Bulls continued his star turn for the upstart Czech Republic, leading his homeland to a 94-84 victory over Poland in the classification round semifinals on Thursday.
The Czech Republic, in the FIBA World Cup for the first time since the breakup of the old Czechoslovakia in the 1990s, has a shot at a top-five finish with the win, as they will face Serbia in Saturday’s fifth-place game.
For Poland, it was their third straight loss after opening the tournament 4-0, but both countries went much further than expected, considering they were the two lowest teams in the FIBA World Rankings to reach the round of eight.
The Czechs came in at No. 24 before the tournament and Poland was a spot behind them at No. 25.
Satoransky did what he’s done all tournament long, scoring and facilitating, but he had copious amounts of help against Poland.
Vojtech Hruban led the Czechs with a game-high 24 points to go with 12 rebounds as the Czech Republic dominated the glass by a 41-27 margin, and Jaromir Bohacik added 21 points.
Satoransky checked in with 22 points and 12 assists and is now averaging 15.9 points, 8.9 dimes and 6.1 boards in the tournament.
The Czechs led by one entering the fourth quarter and took a six-point edge before Poland stormed back and took a 77-74 lead on a 3-pointer by Aaron Cel with 4:54 left.
The teams traded the lead back and forth for the next several possessions before Hruban applied the dagger, a 3-pointer with 2:46 remaining that took the wind out of the sails of the tiring Poles.
Adam Waczynski led Poland with 22 points, while Damian Kulig notched 12 points, seven rebounds, three steals and three blocks in just 20 minutes off the bench. A.J. Slaughter had a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists.
The seventh-place game between Poland and Team USA will tip off from Beijing at 4 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, with the fifth-place matchup between Serbia and the Czech Republic set to start at 8 a.m. Eastern.