Photo: VCG
DONGGUAN, China, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Montenegro smashed Japan 80-65 in Group O of the classification round, taking its first win in FIBA World Cup 2019 here on Monday.
Four players of Montenegro harvested scores in double digits, Nikola Vucevic had team-best 18 points and 7 rebounds, Nikola Ivanovic added 12 points.
Yuta Watanabe pocketed game-high 34 points for Japan and Yudai Baba had 11 points and 5 assists.
Montenegro started its attack with a 17-2 run to lead the game 26-16 in the first quarter, but sharpshooter Watanabe led Japan to fight back to equalize with 45-45 in the fist half of the third quarter.
Montenegro responded with a 11-2 run to lead by 10 points again as the third quarter ran out, and they even widened the gap to 19 points in the last quarter and never looked back.
Japan's leading scorer Rui Hachimura, 21, who will play for NBA's Washington Wizards next season, didn't play in the second round. He averaged 13.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in the first round.
Japan lost all the five games to the United States, Czech Republic, Turkey, New Zealand and Montenegro.
