Turkey beats Slovenia 95-68 to reach world championship semifinals

Turkey beats Slovenia 95-68

ISTANBUL — Ersan Ilyasova scored 19 points and undefeated Turkey hit 10 of 17 3-pointers in its 95-68 victory over Slovenia on Wednesday night in the world championship quarterfinals.

“The guys, they flied,” Turkey coach Bogdan Tanjevic said. “They played the best of these seven games.”

Turkey will face Serbia, a 92-89 winner over defending champion Spain, in the semifinals Saturday. Turkey will finish in the top four for the first time at an Olympics or world championship.

Turkey was 8 of 11 from 3-point range in the first half to take a 50-31 lead.

“They spread the floor really well,” said Bostjan Nachbar, who scored 16 points. “We didn’t adjust well to that and we were not aggressive enough today to make them take tough shots, to use fouls and all that, so we pretty much gave them open shots and they took advantage of that.”

Sani Becirovic had 16 points for Slovenia