Champions dumped out
09/08/2010 06:53:02 PM
A buzzer-beating three from Serbia's Milos Teodosic has sent defending champions Spain tumbling out of the World Championships on Thursday.
Serbia booked its place in the semi-finals with the upset 92-89 victory over Spain, who were unable to find the basket on the final possession of the match after Teodosic drained a three-pointer from the top of the key with 3.1 seconds left on the clock.
Juan Carlos Navarro starred for Spain with 27 points and five assists, while Novica Velickovic (17 points, five rebounds) and Teodosic (12 points, eight assists) were the standouts in an even display for the Serbians.
Spain looked shaky early as Velickovic and Nemanja Bjelica combined to push Serbia to a 27-23 lead at quarter-time.
The lead blew out to 49-41 at half-time before a 10-0 run to begin the third quarter gave Spain their first lead of the match.
The Spaniards again fell away to an eight-point deficit early in the fourth, but some late heroics from Navarro brought the defending champions level with Serbia 89-89 with 25 seconds to play.
But Teodosic ran down the clock before pulling up and sinking the game-winning three from well beyond the arc to send Spain crashing out of the tournament.
The win puts Serbia into the final four at the World Championships for the first time since 2002, where they will face the winner of host nation Turkey and Slovenia on Saturday.