End of an era

Serbia makes official US dethronement in consolation round

DONGGUAN, China (AFP) – Deposed champions the United States lost 94-89 to Serbia in a dead-rubber at the Basketball World Cup on Thursday, a day after surrendering their 13-year unbeaten run.

A young Team USA made up of second-tier NBA stars were defeated 89-79 in the quarter-finals by France on Wednesday, bringing a premature close to their World Cup defence.

More significantly, it was the reigning world and Olympic champions' first defeat in a major competition since the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup.

Thursday's ''classification'' game in Dongguan was the final that never was: The holders against the favorites.

The US were down a scarcely believable 32-7 after the first quarter and headed for a big defeat, before clawing back some of the deficit and a degree of pride.

Harrison Barnes of the Sacramento Kings, the only remaining member of the triumphant 2016 Rio Olympic roster, said: ''There are no regrets from our group in terms of what we've given, what we've sacrificed.

''The commitment everyone has made away from their families, their teams, their organizations.''

There was no medal up for grabs and the US have already qualified for next summer's Tokyo Games.

But there was added spice after Serbia's coach said prior to the World Cup that if the Americans met his team, ''May God help them.''

Sasha Djordjevic dismissed the comment as motivational irony but said that he could see the US were still shell-shocked from the France defeat in the first quarter.

Gregg Popovich's team failed to score a point during one barren fiveminute period.

A rout was on the cards for Serbia, whose tournament also came to a surprise quarter-final end, at the hands of Argentina.