MONTENEGRO smashed Japan 80-65 in Group O of the classification round, taking its first win in the FIBA World Cup in Dongguan yesterday.

Four players of Montenegro harvested scores in double digits, Nikola Vucevic had team-best 18 points and seven rebounds, and Nikola Ivanovic added 12 points.

Yuta Watanabe pocketed a game-high 34 points for Japan and Yudai Baba had 11 points. Montenegro started its attack with a 17-2 run to lead 26-16 in the first quarter, but sharpshooter Watanabe led Japan to fight back to equalize at 45-45 in the first half of the third quarter. Montenegro responded with an 11-2 run as the third quarter ran out, and they widened the gap to 19 points in the last quarter.

Japan’s leading scorer Rui Hachimura, 21, who will play for the NBA’s Washington Wizards next season, didn’t play in the second round. He averaged 13.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in the first round.

Japan lost all its five games to the United States, the Czech Republic, Turkey, New Zealand and Montenegro.(Xinhua)