Bojan Bogdanovic scores 11 in Croatia win over Mexico; Jorge Gutierrez finishes with 3

Bojan Bogdanovic helped lead Croatia to a third place finish in a friendly tournament, beating Mexico and Jorge Gutierrez, 99-74. The 6'8" swingman scored 11 points in 24 minutes on 4-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-7 from deep. Gutierrez, playing point for the clearly outmatched Mexicans, finished with three points in 23 minutes, all on free throws. After shooting 3-of-10 including 0-of-6 from deep, on Wednesday, Gutierrez compounded his shooting woes with an 0-of-2 performance, both misses from deep.

It was the first time two Nets faced off in the FIBA friendlies.  In the championship game, Team Ukraine, coached by Mike Fratello and Joe Wolf, lost to host Spain, 71-63.  For Croatia, it was the eighth "friendly."  Spain is now undefeated in seventh straight.  With one game to go, vs. Lithuania next week, the Croatians are 5-3. By comparison, Team USA has played only two "friendlies", vs Brazil and the Dominican Republic. They play two more, vs. Puerto Rico at the Garden on Friday, and Slovenia in Spain next week.