In the derby of the fifth round of qualifying for the World Cup that will be played next year in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, the Slovenian team led by Luka Doncic outclassed Croatia with 97:69.

After five rounds in group C, Slovenia is second with a score of 3-2, while Croatia is last with only one win.

All dilemmas surrounding the winner were resolved already in the first quarter, which Slovenia won with an incredible 33:8 and then routinely worked the remaining three quarters to finally celebrate with a convincing 28 point difference.

This match, apart from the convincing victory, will also be remembered for the forgiveness of Goran Dragic by the home fans because this was his last match for the national team at home. Doncic scored 21 points, Dragic 19, and Mike Tobi 16 points for Slovenia, while Mario Hezonja scored 22 points for the "cubes".

In the same group, Finland beat Sweden 85:69 and remained in first place in the table with a score of 4-1.

The selection of Serbia also experienced a surprising defeat of 66:59 in the visit to Latvia within the framework of group A. Although the Serbs led at halftime with 25:31, they played disastrously in the third quarter, scoring only 7 points and conceding as many as 21. In the last 10 minutes, they failed to recover from the shock and suffered their second defeat in the qualifiers. Latvia is the leader of the table in group A with a score of 4-1.

Results:
Finland – Sweden 85:69
Estonia – Germany 57:88
Latvia - Serbia 66:59
Greece - Great Britain 93:71
Slovenia - Croatia 97: 69
Belgium – Slovakia 102:59
Poland - Israel 90: 85