Terrible third quarter by the Croatian team decided the match, although they came close near the end of the game
Croatia lost to Serbia in the Olympic basketball tournament quarter-finals 83-86 in a match that started on August 17. 2016, and ended after midnight. Croatia started the game with some great plays and had the lead throughout the first two quarters. They went to the locker room at half-time with a six-point lead.
In the third quarter, as the teams resumed play, the situation changed, and Croatia was swept away by quick play of the Serbian team in the attack and struggled to get on the scoreboard against the tight defense of the Serbian players.
Serbia got to a 14-point lead at the start of the final quarter and seemed to relax a bit. Croatia was not to surrender, and one point at the time, they managed to get back in the contest. The Croatian team trailed by one point and had a couple of chances to get back to the lead, but failed to do so.
In the last minute of the match, it all came down to a free-throw shooting contest, but Serbian players kept their nerve and managed to win.
Bojan Bogdanović was once more the best scorer for Croatia, scoring 28 points, Mario Hezonja scored 16 and added 8 rebounds, but it was not enough to get the team to the semi-finals of the Olympics.
Congratulations to the basketball team, as they were considered the underdogs even to qualify for the Rio Olympics, and they finished the competition among the best eight teams.
