Serbia wins final EuroBasket warmup

SerbiaSerbia grabbed another win over Slovenia in its final warm up game for the 2015 European Championship, which will tip off later in the week. After defeating Slovenia last Thursday on the road in Ljubljana Serbia would have been confident of victory in front of a full crowd in Banja Luka.

However, Serbia did not have things easy as Slovenia pushed this all the way and the 95-88 win was only acquired by the Serbs in overtime.

Slovenia signaled its intention to reverse last week’s loss with a blazing first quarter that saw the guests take a 15-22 lead. Serbia dug into the deficit during the second act, but Slovenia kept cool and headed into the locker room at halftime with a 42-38 lead. Serbia could not knock the visitors off their perch in the first half, but 28 points in the third period ensured a 66-62 advantage, their first lead since the first stanza.

The hosts remained in control in the closing quarter and led 73-64 midway through the fourth. Slovenia had one more push and fought back in a bucket for bucket finale to tie proceedings at 84 apiece through the end of regulation. In the added overtime period Serbia finally killed it off with an early 6-0 run that gave them a cushion to see out the victory.

Milos Teodosic topped the winners with 20 points, while Nemanja Bjelica doubled up with 18 points and 13 boards, with Miroslav Raduljica grabbing 16 points.

Jaka Blazic was consistent at the net for Slovenia with 19 points, followed by Zoran Dragic and Klemen Prepelic with 13 points each.

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