(Manila) Canada reached the semi-finals of the FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points in the Maple Leaf’s 100-89 victory over Slovenia on Wednesday at the Manila Mall of Asia Arena.
“It’s an honor,” Gilgeous said after the game. That’s an honor in itself. However, we are not satisfied. »
Dillon Brooks added 14 points before being ejected from the game with 7:06 left in the fourth quarter due to a second technical foul.
Canada started the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run in 1:53 of play. The team led 92-76 when Brooks was ejected.
“He has to be better,” Canada head coach Jordi Fernandez said of Brooks after the game. We need him on the pitch. He can’t be deported. We have to act better as a team.
“I believe he’s the best defensive player, along with ‘Lu’ (Luguentz) Dort, on the periphery in this competition,” added Fernandez.
RJ Barrett contributed 24 points and nine rebounds for Canada, who will now face Serbia on Friday morning. Germany will cross swords with the United States in the other semi-final.
“It’s a good feeling,” Barrett said in a postgame press conference. We played as a team, everyone gave of themselves and we fought. I think that’s the thing to remember.
“Now we’re going to celebrate this win tonight, watch the video tomorrow (Thursday) and then practice and be ready to win the next game,” he added.
Luka Doncic set the tone for the Serbia side with 26 points. He was knocked off the floor less than a minute after Brooks, also due to a second technical foul.
Slovenia trailed by 17 points with 5:36 remaining in the fourth quarter, but narrowed the gap to nine following an 8-0 run with 3:34 remaining on the clock.
Gilgeous-Alexander fought back, however, with a game-winning basket 25 seconds later. Although he then missed a free throw, he recovered with two more baskets less than a minute later to secure the victory for the Canadians.
The final and the small final will take place on Sunday.
This is already the best result of the Canadian program in this competition. Canada had finished sixth in 1978 and 1982.
Serbia reached the final in 2014 and have been in the semi-finals in three of the last four editions of the tournament.
This will be the first duel between Serbia and Canada in this competition.
“They’re a great team,” Fernandez said of Serbia. They have a good coach, a good program, good players and they have experience in this tournament. It is what we lack, but which we acquire a little more every day.
“As I said at the very beginning, we will improve every day, every game, and today we were better than against Spain. And when we face Serbia, then we will be better than today,” he concluded.
Canada qualified for the Paris Olympics last weekend with an important win over Spain.
The Canadian team has not competed in the Summer Olympics since Sydney, Australia in 2000.
