VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — Serbia had tried to match the pace of the U.S. team in its Paris Olympics opening loss. It made sure not to repeat the same mistake against Puerto Rico on Wednesday.
Serbia romped to a 107-66 victory in men’s basketball at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille behind Nikola Jokic‘s 14 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists — good enough to make a bit of Olympic history for the Denver Nuggets star.
Filip Petrusev had 15 points and nine rebounds to help Serbia bounce back from its Group C loss to the U.S. It stays on track to advance to next week’s knockout round. Serbia is 1-1 with its last group game Saturday against South Sudan.
“We didn’t control our emotions, control our rhythm (against the U.S.),” Petrusev said. “For you to beat a champion, you really have to play above your expectation to really have a chance to win the game. But tonight, we really came to play. From the first moment we started aggressively. … Overall, we are satisfied. But we need one more.”
Christopher Ortiz led Puerto Rico with 19 points.
Now 0-2 in the group stage, Puerto Rico was eliminated after the U.S. win over South Sudan. It faces the U.S. in its last group matchup.
Serbia built a 12-point lead without Jokic even scoring a point. But he was involved in other ways, compiling six rebounds and four assists in less than five minutes of game action early on.
Serbia’s lead reached 20 points in the second quarter.
Now its attention turns to South Sudan, which beat Puerto Rico on Sunday.
In their only meeting, Serbia blew out South Sudan 115-83 during the group stage of last year’s World Cup. But Serbia captain Bogdan Bogdanovic is expecting to face a much different version of the upstart African team this time.
“Great opponent,” Bogdanovic said. “They started the tournament well. They played with great confidence. It’s going to be a tough game. We need to come out with the same energy we had today and to fight.”