Turkey and Serbia move into semifinals at Worlds

Basketball Betting Lines

09/08/2010 - Istanbul, Turkey (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ersan Ilyasova poured in 19 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead Turkey to a comfortable 95-68 win over Slovenia in the quarterfinals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

Turkey will meet Serbia, a dramatic quarterfinal victor earlier in the day, in the semifinals.

Ilyasova, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, connected on 7-of-9 shots from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point territory as Turkey shot a blistering 66.7-percent during the game and was never really challenged. The hosts made 22-of-31 from inside the arc and 10-of-17 from long distance.

Sinan Guler added 12 points, while Hedo Turkoglu of the Phoenix Suns, Kerem Tunceri and Omer Onan chipped in with 10 apiece for the victors, who led 50-31 at the break.

Former NBA forward Bostjan Nachbar and Sani Becirovic led Slovenia with 16 points while Primoz Brezec, a free agent after splitting last season with Philadelphia and the Bucks, added 10 points and five boards in a losing cause.

Slovenia shot a ineffective 35.7-percent from the floor in bowing out.

Meanwhile, in the first game of the day, Milos Teodosic drilled a long three-pointer with 3.1 seconds remaining to lift Serbia to a 92-89 victory over Spain.

Spain trailed throughout most of the fourth quarter, but tied it at 89-89 on a dunk by Marc Gasol with 25.8 seconds to play. After the Serbs called timeout, Teodosic worked his way free well beyond the top of the key with time running out and connected on a shot from about 27 feet.

The Spaniards turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play, sending the Serbs into Saturday's semifinals against the winner of Wednesday's second game between Turkey and Slovenia.

Teodosic was just 1-for-7 from beyond the arc before hitting the winning shot. He finished with 12 points, while Novica Velickovic and Marko Keselj each scored 17 in the winning effort. Nenad Krstic contributed 13 points with nine rebounds.

Juan Carlos Navarro led Spain with 27 points and Jorge Garbajosa added 18. Rudy Fernandez scored 15 and Gasol finished with 13 in defeat for the European champions.

Serbia opened a 27-23 lead after the first quarter and extended the advantage to 49-41 at halftime. Spain, though, began the second half with 10 straight points, the last two on a bucket by Navarro, to move in front 51-49.

It remained close for the rest of the third quarter and Serbia took a 67-64 edge into the fourth. The Serbs led by as many as eight in the final period until Spain rallied late.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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