Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Chicago Bulls’ guard Carlik Jones was almost shut down when Serbia trounced his team South Sudan, 115-83, Wednesday night in the final Group B games of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 at the Araneta Coliseum.
The 6’0” Jones was held to just three points and six assists throughout the 21 minutes that he played, with the Serbians taking him out of his game.
But Jones promised to be back and be better when the Bright Stars face Gilas Pilipinas in their coming classification encounters on Thursday, 8 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“We gotta play hard. We just have to stitch it together. Every game is a lesson learned,” said Jones, who had 21 points when the Bright Stars defeated China for their first win, and 35 points in their 96-101 loss to Puerto Rico.
Jones, the 2022-23 Kia NBA G League Most Valuable Player for his play with the Windy City Bulls, said team effort, more than his individual game, will help the Bright Stars deal with Gilas and fellow NBA cager Jordan Clarkson, who plays for the Utah Jazz.
“He (Clarkson) is good player, he’s a pro. At the end of the day, it’s a team game. We’ll worry about the team, and not just him. He is not the only man that we should focus on. It’s the team,” said Jones.
South Sudan, which came off its first-ever World Cup win at the expense of China, got overwhelmed by the trio of Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nikola Jovic and Nikola Milutinov as the Serbians earned first place in Group B with a perfect 3-0 sweep.
South Sudan finished the first group stage with a 1-2 record, and will be in the classification matches with Gilas and China.
Jovic tallied 25 points, while Bogdanovic had 23 points for Serbia, which went ahead, 45-36, off a 10-3 surge in the first period, before finishing with a 56-39 lead at halftime.
Serbia shot 62 percent for the game including making 17 three-pointers at a scorching 53 percent clip in claiming a seat in the second round, where they it will face the Dominican Republic and Italy.
South Sudan has a slim chance of making it to the Second Round if China beat Puerto Rico by 34 points or fewer.
If not, then South Sudan moves into the Classification 17-32.
“We ran into a well-oiled machine. Serbia is a good team. They shot 17-of-32 from threes, 53 percent, 69 percent on twos. They execute. They rarely turn over the ball. You see, they have shotmakers at every position. That’s a tough guard. Kudos to them. We competed until the end for 40 minutes. I’m proud of my guys. They never laid down and showed spirit. And that’s what it’s about. You win some, you lose some. But we will fight for another day,” said South Sudan coach Royal Ivey. — Peter Atencio
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