FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2016: Friday Basketball Results, Highlights

The knockout phase of the men's 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments kicked off Friday with the Belgrade and Turin semifinals. 

The champions of those two tournaments, along with the Manila event, will be crowned this weekend. The winning national teams will earn the final three berths for the men's basketball tournament next month at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Let's check out the complete list of information for the day's action, which will get updated through the end of play. That's followed by a recap for each game after it finishes.

Friday's Results

Event	Result/Matchup	Score/Time (ET)
Turin	(B2) Croatia d. (A1) Greece	66-61
Belgrade	(A2) Puerto Rico d. (B1) Latvia	77-70
Turin	(B1) Italy vs. (A2) Mexico	79-54
Belgrade	(A1) Serbia vs. (B2) Czech Republic	96-72

Serbia 96, Czech Republic 72

Serbia had the best offensive output in the Belgrade Arena all tournament, thrashing the Czech Republic 96-72 to secure a spot in the finals against Puerto Rico. 

There was very little that went wrong for Serbia in this game, shooting 54.7 percent overall and making 15 out of 16 free-throw attempts. 

Bojan Bogdanovic led the offensive barrage with 21 points and eight rebounds. Nikola Jokic wasn't far behind with 19 points and tied Bogdanovic with eight rebounds in the win. 

The performances from Bogdanovic and Jokic prompted Omer Ali Khan of Sactown Royalty to offer this opinion:

Bogdanovic has been fantastic throughout this qualifying tournament, ranking fourth among all players with 15 points and tied for second with 6.3 rebounds per game. 

The only threat from the Czech Republic came with just over one minute left in the third quarter when it cut Serbia's lead to 65-56. Milos Teodosic immediately hit a three-pointer to bring the lead back to 12 points and end any momentum on the other side. 

This wasn't a bad offensive game for the Czech Republic. It shot 48.3 percent overall, including 41.7 percent from three-point range. The defense just had no answer for Bogdanovic, Jokic or anyone else on Serbia. 

The offense doesn't figure to slow down for Serbia against Puerto Rico on Saturday.  These two teams met once during group play, with Serbia surviving a 30-18 run by Puerto Rico in the fourth quarter to secure a six-point victory. 

Based on the raised stakes in the finals, Serbia can't afford another late lapse like that if it is going to advance to the Olympics. 

Italy 79, Mexico 54

Italy was able to withstand Mexico's third-quarter run to breeze into the Turin championship game against Croatia.

The Italians went on a 13-0 run after Mexico closed to within 47-41 late in the third quarter to seal their victory. Danilo Gallinari led Italy's balanced offensive attack with 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting, though three of his four field goals came from behind the three-point line.

Nicolo Melli was the shooting star for Italy, going 6-of-7 from the field to finish with 14 points. Marco Belinelli and Pietro Aradori also reached double-digits in scoring. 

Things got tense for Italy during that third quarter after taking a 45-31 lead. Mexico went on a 10-2 run that was capped off by Juan Toscano's tip-in following a missed layup from Jonas Gutierrez.

Even though there was not a lot for Mexico to cheer for when the game was over, Gutierrez did provide one of the game's best highlights with this terrific assist Paul Stoll during that run to get back in the game, via FIBA:

The problem Mexico ran into is not having enough consistent offense to keep up with Italy's pace. Francisco Cruz was the only Mexican player to reach double-digits, scoring a game-high 20 points. 

Italy will be looking to hold off a hungry and motivated Croatia team looking for revenge after a 67-60 loss in group play on Tuesday. Neither team shot well in that game, combining to go 46-of-132, and Croatia didn't light up the stat sheet against Greece today. 

Confidence has to be high for the Italians after this huge win and knowing they have already defeated their finals opponent. 

Croatia 66, Greece 61

Croatia dominated the first quarter and then survived a furious rally by Greece to punch its ticket to the Turin championship game.

The 1992 Olympic silver medalists raced out to a 20-3 lead less than five minutes into the contest. It led 31-13 at the end of the first quarter, and it appeared the underdogs were primed to streamroll their way into the final.

Greece slowly but surely fought its way back into the game, though. The 10th-ranked team in the world cut the lead to 10 by halftime and three heading into the final quarter after holding the lead for a brief stretch in the third.

Hellas' pace slowed considerably in the last 10 minutes, though, which allowed Croatia to regain control of the game, eventually building its lead back to 11 before hanging on for the five-point triumph.

FIBA highlighted an emphatic steal and slam from Mario Hezonja during the run that for all intents and purposes closed out the contest:

Bojan Bogdanovic led the way for Croatia with 20 points and four rebounds. Dario Saric chipped in 16 points and eight boards while Krunoslav Simon also cracked double figures with 11 points.

Stratos Perperoglou paced Greece with 13 points in the team's losing effort. Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, affectionately known as the "Greek Freak," had nine points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks, but he also turned the ball over six times.

Afterward, Croatia head coach Aleksandar Petrovic stated his team's change in identity has helped it reach the title game, per Sportando.

"This is a different Croatian than the last 15 years," he said. "Croatia's trademark is now the defense. Before was just offense."

His team advances to face the winner of Italy and Mexico in the final. The Azzurri should move through that game barring a major upset, which means the Croatians will likely be forced to overcome Italy's home-crowd advantage in order to earn an Olympic trip.

Puerto Rico 77, Latvia 70

The second straight top seed fell as Puerto Rico built an early lead against Latvia and then survived a hard-fought battle before pulling away in the fourth quarter.

Latvia's inability to get hot from beyond the arc made the difference. The European squad hoisted up 26 three-point attempts, but connected on just three, an 11.5 percent clip. Even an average shooting day likely pushes Ainars Bagatskis' team into the final.

Instead, Puerto Rico rode a 26-point fourth period into the Belgrade final. Neither team had more than 20 points in any other quarter.

FIBA showcased a tremendous individual effort by Carlos Arroyo to finish off the victory:

John Holland paced the Gallos with 15 points. Four other players reached double figures, including Renaldo Balkman, who posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. J.J. Barea added 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the win.

Janis Timma had 16 points and eight boards for Latvia. Dairis Bertans also had a solid showing despite the loss, putting up 11 points and seven assists without a turnover.

Looking ahead, Puerto Rico's biggest test still lies ahead. It's likely to face Serbia, the sixth-ranked team in the world, in the championship game. And, just like Croatia, it would need to win what amounts to a road game to claim the Olympic berth, barring an upset by the Czech Republic in the second semifinal.