FIBA World Cup 2023 Results: Latvia, Slovenia Win 5th, 7th-Place Games

The penultimate day of games at the 2023 FIBA World Cup wrapped up with Slovenia and Latvia earning victories in the classification round.

Saturday's schedule was to determine the teams that will finish between fifth and eighth overall in this year's tournament.

All four teams that played today have yet to clinch a berth in the 2024 Olympics, but they will be in the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying tournaments that will take place before the Paris Games begin in July.

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2023 FIBA World Cup Results - Saturday, Sept. 9

Seventh-Place Game: Slovenia def. Italy, 89-85

Fifth-Place Game: Latvia def. Lithuania, 98-63

Slovenia 89, Italy 85

Luka Dončić's double-double lifted Slovenia to an 89-85 victory over a feisty Italy team in the first game on Saturday.

After struggling with his scoring efficiency for the past five games, Dončić got back on track in his final FIBA game of the year. He dropped 29 points on 8-of-15 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out eight assists.

It wasn't a flawless performance by Dončić, whose nine turnovers were one more than he had in the previous two games combined.

Slovenia was able to overcome some sloppy play by its superstar because the aggressive offensive approach allowed the team to bait Italy into committing 25 fouls. The Slovenians had a 28-10 advantage in free-throw attempts, and they made 22 of them.

Marco Spissu was a standout for Italy in the loss. His 22 points were his most in a game this tournament. The 28-year-old was the only starter on his team with a positive plus-minus (plus-eight) in 32 minutes.

Trailing by 10 points to start the fourth quarter, Italy did come storming back. It went on a 10-3 run to open the final frame and took an 85-83 lead on Giampaolo Ricci's tip-in with 1:04 remaining.

Jakob Cebasek put Slovenia back in front on the ensuing possession with a three-pointer that was assisted by Dončić. Italy committed turnovers on its next two possessions and Zoran Dragic made a free throw to give Slovenia an 89-85 advantage.

The win allowed Slovenia to tie its best-ever finish at the FIBA World Cup. It previously finished seventh in 2014. Despite the loss, Italy's eighth-place showing was its best performance in the tournament since 1998 (sixth).

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Latvia 98, Lithuania 63

Latvia wrapped up an impressive run in the FIBA World Cup with a dominant 98-63 win over Lithuania in the fifth-place game.

Artūrs Kurucs led a relentless Latvian offense with 20 points in 22 minutes. Artūrs Žagars, who missed all seven of his field-goal attempts, set a FIBA World Cup record with 17 assists and had zero turnovers in 26 minutes.

The previous World Cup record was 15 assists in a single game done by two different players. South Sudan's Carlik Jones did it earlier in this tournament against Angola on Sept. 2. Toni Kukoč originally set the record for Croatia in 1994.

Latvia put up 98 points on 50.7 percent shooting from the field, including 16-of-32 from behind the three-point line. It was the team's third-highest scoring game of the tournament after putting up 109 points against Lebanon and 104 points against Brazil.

The shooting touch was not present for Lithuania in defeat. Head coach Kazys Maksvytis' team made 34.8 percent of its field goals and missed 21 of 26 three-point attempts.

Jonas Valanciunas and Tomas Dimsa combined to go 11-of-17 from the field. The rest of the team went 13-of-52 combined.

After their 110-104 victory over the United States on Sept. 3, the Lithuanian team lost two of their final three games to settle for sixth place. It is the country's highest finish in the FIBA World Cup since 2014.