Bojan Bogdanovic scored just six points – all in the first half – and sat nearly the entire fourth quarter as Croatia defeated Montenegro in game 3 of the FIBA Eurobasket preliminary round, 87-81. Bogdanovic sat for the final eight minutes as Croatia maintained their lead with a barrage of three-pointers and shots inside from center Ante Tomic. Tomic led Croatia with 26 points and 8 rebounds.
It’s unclear why head coach Josip Vranković left Bogdanovic on the bench during crunch time – there were no signs of injury or contempt, and his scoring touch could’ve proved useful. But Croatia got big help in the way of seven three-pointers from bench player Marco Popovic, and improved to 2-1 in Group C play.
Croatia plays next tomorrow at 2 P.M. against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
