Luka Doncic barely had to play in Slovenia’s Olympic basketball qualifying tournament debut.
Zoran Dragic scored 16 points, Doncic and Vlatko Cancar each added 13 and Slovenia rolled past Angola 118-68 on Wednesday during qualifying play at Kaunas, Lithuania. Doncic played only 17 minutes, checking out for good midway through the third quarter.
“We had a great start,” Doncic said.
The qualifying tournaments going on this week — taking place in Lithuania, Croatia, Serbia and Canada — will determine the final four teams in the men’s field for the Tokyo Olympics. Group play runs through Thursday, followed by semifinals on Saturday at all four sites and finals a day later.
The winners of those four games on Sunday, one team from each site, will be the final additions to the Olympic tournament.
Yanick Moreira scored 15 points for Angola, which was eliminated from Olympic contention with the loss.
Records: Slovenia 1-0, Angola 0-2.
Up next: Slovenia plays Poland on Thursday. Both teams will advance to Saturday’s Kaunas region semifinals.
Venezuela 94, South Korea 80
Also at Kaunas on Wednesday, Venezuela had a 21-point lead in the third quarter trimmed to one before hanging on to defeat South Korea.
Venezuela led 59-38 early in the third before South Korea went on a 26-6 run, drawing within 65-64 on a 3-pointer from Byeon Junhyeong late in the quarter. But Venezuela never lost the lead, and it outscored the South Koreans 29-16 in the final 11 minutes.
Heissler Guillent led Venezuela with 17 points, and Pedro Chourio and Michael Carrera each had 16.
Records: Venezuela 1-1, South Korea 0-1.
Up next: South Korea plays Lithuania on Thursday. FIBA said Venezuela will advance to Saturday’s semifinals, which means the South Korea-Lithuania winner will as well.
SPLIT (CROATIA) BRACKET
Mexico 72, Russia 64
Mexico outscored Russia 19-7 in the third quarter, the decisive 10 minutes in what became an eight-point win.
Francisco Cruz scored 21 points for Mexico. Semen Antonov led Russia with 13 points.
Mexico trailed 38-31 early in the third quarter, then finished on a 41-26 run.
Records: Mexico 1-1, Russia 0-1.
Up next: Russia faces Germany on Thursday in a must-win game for its Olympic hopes.
Brazil 94, Croatia 67
Rafael Hettsheimer scored 20 points as Brazil rolled into a semifinal spot. Bruno Caboclo added 17 points for Brazil, which is now off until Saturday.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 16 for Croatia.
Records: Brazil 2-0, Croatia 0-1.
Up next: Croatia faces a must-win game against Tunisia on Thursday.
BELGRADE (SERBIA) BRACKET
Serbia 83, Philippines 76
Boban Marjanovic had 25 points and 10 rebounds as Serbia moved into the semifinals with a hard-fought win.
Ognjen Dobric added 16 for the winners. Kakou Ange Franck Williams Kouame led the Philippines with 17 points.
Records: Serbia 2-0, Philippines 0-1.
Up next: The Philippines plays the Dominican Republic on Thursday in an elimination game.
VICTORIA (BRITISH COLUMBIA) BRACKET
Later Wednesday, Canada (1-0) plays China (0-0) and Turkey (1-0) plays the Czech Republic (0-0).