BELGRADE (Serbia) – In front of a COVID-capacity crowd of 1,250 mostly-home fans, Serbia grabbed a vital 83-76 win over the Philippines.

Serbia needed a thrilling finish to withstand the 'Gilas' but the victory nonetheless sees the reigning Olympic silver medalists into the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) Belgrade as the first-place team from Group A to advance to the Semi-Finals. 

Igor Kokosov's side never trailed in this close contest.

The Serbian head coach decided to rest three regular rotation players (Nemanja Bjelica, Nikola Kalinic, and Vasilije Micic) from starting due to minor injuries.

The Serbian injured reserves ranks only grew in the middle of the fourth quarter when Stefan Jovic had to leave the floor, creating a massive hole in the rotation that was immediately noticeable in the home team's performance.

Turning point: After leading the for 36 minutes, Serbia allowed the Gilas to take their first and only lead of the game, 74-73.

But, in a similar fashion to Serbia's tournament opening game the previous night, they found a way to win it by closing with a 10-2 run. 

Game heroes:  After a fantastic season in his club Red Star, Ognjen Dobric continued his growth in a national team jersey, putting up 16 points while going 4-from-7 from the three point line.

Boban Marjanovic also showed off his double-double stats mode with 25 buckets and 10 rebounds.

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