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Canada advances to FIBA World Cup semifinals with another massive victory

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
|
Sep 6 2023, 2:22 pm
Canada advances to FIBA World Cup semifinals with another massive victory

It wasn’t always an easy road, but Canada is one of the final four teams remaining at the FIBA World Cup.

Facing off against a Luka Doncic-led Slovenia in the tournament quarterfinals, the Canadians broke away from a 50-50 halftime score to finish off with an emphatic 100-89 victory.

Canada was without one of their key pieces for most of the fourth quarter, when the always-fiery Dillon Brooks was ejected from the game with a little over seven minutes remaining.

But less than a minute after Brooks’ ejection, Doncic was also tossed from the game after picking up his technical foul for arguing with the referees, with the Canadians holding a 92-77 lead.

Without their talisman, Slovenia attempted a historic comeback but it appeared to be a case of too little, too late.

Once again, it was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way for Canada with a 31-point effort to lead all scorers.

It took a while for them to get going, but it was yet another impressive showing for Canada on Wednesday with their fifth victory in six games at this year’s tournament.

It’s already been a successful tournament for Canada, who qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics with their epic comeback win on Sunday over Spain in the final game of the second round.

Canada will now play Serbia for a shot at the gold medal game, with their semifinal contest taking place on Friday morning at a time to be announced.

Meanwhile, the US and Germany will face off in the other semifinal, set for 5:40 am PT/ 8:40 am ET. Both semifinals (as well as Sunday’s gold and bronze medal games) will be broadcast nationally on Sportsnet.

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