Croatia will face Serbia Wednesday in the knock-out round of the Olympics after Bojan Bogdanovic once again led the red-and-white to a win over Lithuania, scoring 22 points, 17 of them in the second half. Bogdanovic, the Olympics' leading scorer, shot 7-of-15, including 4-of-6 from three.
Although four of the six teams in Group B qualified for the next round with 3-2 records, Croatia ranked first based on tiebreakers. By winning, Croatia also avoided Team USA Wednesday. Instead, Argentina and Luis Scola will face the U.S.
With Bogdanovic shooting poorly early, Croatia fell behind 21-13 after the first quarter. Dario Saric picked up the slack as Croatia outscored Lithuania, 34-20, in the second. Still, at the half, Bogdanovic had only five points. Then,in the third, Croatia opened things up, jumping out to a double digit lead. The Nets shooting guard scored 11 points in the quarter. Saric, who had his way with Knicks rookie Mindaugas Kuzminskas, finished with 18.
As the lead shrunk in the fourth, coach Aco Petrovic (Drazen's older brother) put Bogdanovic back in the game and he quickly put Croatia for good, throwing down a dagger dunk. Bogdanovic limped off the court, apparently taking a knee to his thigh. The injury did not appear serious.
Bogdanovic averaged 24.8 points per game in the group phase, shooting 51.4 percent overall and 43.8 percent from deep. His high game was 33; low 18.