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.
RJ Barrett contributed 24 points and nine rebounds. Dillon Brooks added 14 points before being ejected from the game with 7:06 remaining in the fourth quarter due to a second technical foul.
Luka Doncic set the tone for Serbia with 26 points. He was evicted from the floor less than a minute after Brooks, also due to a second technical foul.
Slovenia trailed by 17 points with 5:36 left in the fourth quarter, but closed the gap to nine following an 8-0 run with 3:34 left 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 ensure the victory for the Canadians.
Canada will now face Serbia on Friday morning. Germany will cross swords with the United States in the other semi-final.
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 final four in three of the last four editions of the tournament.
This will be the first duel between Serbia and Canada in this competition.
Canada qualified for the Paris Olympic Games last weekend with an important victory against Spain.
The Canadian team has not competed in the Summer Olympics since the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia.
To watch on video
