Serbia lose to Italy at basketball world cup

MANILA - Serbia lost to Italy 78-76 (23-19, 17-23, 19-20, 19-14) in the first game of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 second phase in Manila on Friday.

Bogdan Bogdanovic led Serbia with 18 points, three rebounds and four assists and Nikola Milutinov added 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Simone Fontecchio was a standout for Italy with 30 points, seven rebounds and four assists and Marco Spissu added 14 points, five rebounds and two assists.

In a similar fashion, Serbia previously lost to Italy at home in a qualifying game for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, at EuroBasket 2022 in Berlin as well as at this year's Acropolis tournament in Athens.

Serbia will next face the Dominican Republic on Sunday.