Türkiye National Basketball Team beat Serbia 94-86 to secure round 2 of World Cup Qualifiers

By Emre Asikci

ISTANBUL (AA) – The Türkiye National Basketball Team on Monday beat Serbia 94-86 to seal round two of the FIBA 2027 World Cup Qualifiers.

In the European Qualifiers Group C game, the first quarter ended 28-21 in favor of Türkiye, but Serbia responded strongly by taking the second quarter 23-20 at Istanbul’s Turkcell Basketball Development Center.

Carrying a 48-44 lead into halftime, the Turkish national team maintained its momentum and never looked back, bouncing back in the third quarter with a 28-19 run.

Serbia took the final quarter 23–18, but Türkiye still claimed the home court win.

Turkish forward Tarik Biberovic delivered an outstanding performance with 21 points, five assists, and five rebounds.

Omer Yurtseven racked up 17 points, Sehmus Hazer scored 15, and Cedi Osman netted 13 points to lead the hosts to victory.

For the losing side, Aleksa Avramovic was the Serbians’ highest scorer with 16 points and nine assists.

Ognjen Dobric scored 14 points while Dejan Davidovac helped his team with 12 points in the away loss.

Meanwhile, Türkiye's Yurtseven was disqualified after picking up five fouls.

The win kept the Turkish national team unbeaten at the top of the group with four victories, while Serbia suffered their second loss.