Greece, Latvia win at Olympic hoops qualifiers

Bojan Bogdanovic of the Brooklyn Nets scored 20 points, and Croatia beat Greece 66-61 on Friday in the semifinals of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Turin, Italy. While 18 teams are competing in three separate tournaments in Serbia, Philippines and Italy, only the victor of each event will earn a spot in the Rio Games. Croatia was playing against Greece in the semi-final of the Olympic Qualification Tournament, and the match had everything basketball has to offer.

In Turin, Italy’s Andrea Bargnani scored 15 points to help the two-time silver medalist down Tunisia 68-41 in Group B.

The first-place team in Group A will take on the second-place team from Group B in one semi-final, and the side that comes top of Group B will go up against the second-top team in Group A in the other semi-final.

Antetokounmpo was 7 for 8 from the field in just 19 minutes.

Former NBA center Andray Blatche finished with 30 points and seven rebounds, but the Philippines fell to 0-2 and was eliminated. Pietro Aradori added 13 points and Marco Belinelli added 11 for the Italians.

Italy hosts Croatia on Tuesday, while Iran faces Mexico.

The hosts shot 54.5 percent from the field and put four players in double figures.

Kosuke Takeuchi scored 12 points for Japan.

John Holland led Puerto Rico with 21 points.

Serbia will play the Czech Republic in one semifinal, while unbeaten Latvia will face Puerto Rico.