FIBA World Cup: Serbia beats Italy 92-77

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Serbia defeated Italy 92-77 on Wednesday in 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup to advance to second round as group leaders.

Serbia toppled Italy in the Chinese city of Foshan as Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 31 points for his team in the victory.

NBA team Sacramento Kings player Bogdanovic also produced five assists and made five steals.

Serbian power forward Nikola Jokic tallied 15 points and six rebounds.

Miroslav Raduljica playing as center for Serbia scored 12 points.

Italian power forward Danilo Gallinari was the top scorer for his team, with 26 points against Serbia. Oklahoma City Thunder's new star had eight rebounds as well.

Marco Belinelli scored 15 points for Italy, the San Antonio Spurs shooting guard also made four assists.

Italian guard Daniel Hackett produced 13 points against Serbia but Italy couldn't avoid the loss in Foshan.

Group D winner Serbia and runner-up Italy were through the next round in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

Regarded as one of the favorites in China 2019, Serbia won all its three matches in Group D to finish it atop.

The other Group D competitors, Angola and Philippines have been eliminated from the tournament.

- Wednesday's results in World Cup:

Italy - Serbia: 77-92 (Serbia and Italy go to the second round)

Venezuela - China: 72-59 (Venezuela advance to the second round, China eliminated)

Russia - Argentina: 61-69 (Argentina and Russia advance to the second round)

Spain - Iran: 73-65 (Spain onto second round, Iran eliminated)