Serbia coach hits out at team’s effort despite comfortable win over Egypt

Puerto Rico stay hot with second upset of European power while US recover from surprisingly close opener against Greece

Vojislav Stojanovic, left, of Serbia drives to the basket against Ahmed Metwaly of Egypt during their Fiba Under 17 World Championship game at Al Ahli club in Dubai on August 9, 2014. Satish Kumar / The NationalShow less

Dubai // “This game? Very bad, really bad.”

Harsh assessment from a coach whose team just won by 18.

Serbia breezed by Egypt last night 81-63 to keep pace at the top of Group D at the Fiba Under 17 World Championship in Dubai, but coach Vanja Gusa was not, to say the least, impressed.

“We win, but it’s not important,” he said. “The kids sometimes too much think they win before the game, make it hard to win during the game.”

The Serbs’ 15-point half-time lead was eventually cut down by an energetic Egyptian side to “just” 10 by the end of the third quarter, but for the most part the game was never that close. But Serbia, a nation with a rich basketball history — the nation that produced the likes of Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic — are held to a high standard.

They were sometimes sloppy against Egypt, committing 21 turnovers — three more than the Egyptians.

But with a handful of good young European prospects — if not quite future NBA stars like Divac and Stojakovic — Egypt represented only a minor challenge.

Nikola Rakicevic, a 2-metre tall, grinding forward, led the team in scoring with 14 points. Their 2.08-metre tall centre, David Miladinovic, secured 13 rebounds in addition to eight points

Rakicevic and Aleks Aratinovic, a forward standing 1.95 metres, used their long arms to pester the shorter Egyptians defensively on the wings, combining for three rare blocked three-point shots. Aratinovic also had 13 points and five assists.

Ahmed Metwaly paced Egypt with 16 points and four steals.

Puerto Rico continued to be the surprise team of the tournament in Group C, beating the Italian team that downed UAE by 89 points the night before in their second straight upset of a European power.

After a two-point, last-second win over Spain on the tournament’s opening day, the Puerto Ricans overcame the Italians ­58-51.

Arnaldo Toro and Leandro Allende produced their second straight standout performances. Toro, a 16-year-old, 2.05-metre tall forward, came through with 20 points and 14 rebounds for a successive double-double. Allende added 13 points after scoring 16 in the opener.

Leonardo Tote had 16 points for the Italians.

Canada swept aside Japan 96-52 in Group B as Jerome Desroisers scored 20 points and sank 10-of-11 free throws. Marquell Fraser added 17 and Jamal Murray scored 14.

In Group A, Greece overwhelmed the Philippines in a 20-point, 85-65 win. Antonis Pefanis led the side with 26 points and Thanasis Ntouzidis grabbed 11 rebounds.

Argentina and China battled back and forth in a tight, evenly matched Group D encounter the Argentines won 75-70.

Maximo Fjellerup led Argentina in scoring for the second straight game, netting 22 points with solid shooting and smooth attacks at the rim. He made seven-of-15 shots, while Guillermo Aliende added 16.

Yanhao Zhao’s 31-point effort, the most of the tournament, led China. Zhao showed off his long-range skills, making six-of-13 three-pointers.

Spain rebounded from an upset at the hands of Puerto Rico in their opening game to beat the UAE 138-27 in Group C. Oscar Amo led the Spaniards with 23 points.

Elsewhere in Group A, the United States bounced back from their win of only 10 points against Greece on opening night to paste Angola on Saturday night, 99-56.

The opening win over the Greeks on Friday had been the Americans’ narrowest victory in 17 games across the three stagings of the championship. Their blowout of the Angolans was a bit more customary.

Harry Giles led the team in scoring with 14 points on six-of-nine shooting and Diamond Stone followed up his 22-point, 10-rebound man-of-the-match performance against Greece with eight points, 12 rebounds and three blocks against Angola. Terrance Ferguson, Jayson Tatum and Caleb Swanigan were all in double digits in scoring, as well.

Angola, the 2013 African Under 16 champions, got 17 points from centre Silvio de Sousa and at least 12 from three other players, but the rest of the team combined for two points.

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