After two idle days, both Dario Saric and Furkan Korkmaz will return to the floor Monday for their respective countries’ final games in the latest stage of European qualifying for the FIBA World Cup.
Saric and Croatia will square off against Poland at 3:00 PM EST. The two clubs are tied in the standings, and one point out of a spot in the top three of their group.
Earlier in the day, at 2:00 PM EST, Korkmaz and Turkey will face Slovenia. Turkey is tied for second place in its group, while Slovenia is at the bottom of the pack.
On Friday, Saric provided the Croatians with 19 points (7-15 fg, 2-5 3fg), six rebounds, and five assists in a 84-83 loss to Lithuania.
Croatia trailed for most of the contest, but the 76ers’ versatile forward assumed a key role in leading a second-half comeback bid that came up just short.
Korkmaz, meanwhile, delivered a dazzling play Friday in Turkey’s 79-69 triumph over Montenegro.
The swingman tallied 13 points (5-10 fg) and five rebounds in 30 minutes of action off the bench. He enjoyed a particularly strong first half, in which he went a perfect 3-3 from the field.
But it was in the middle of Friday’s fourth quarter where Korkmaz factored into one of the tilt’s top highlights.
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