Pooh Jeter carried Ukraine to an 82-75 victory over Serbia and revived his team's hopes of also making the quarterfinals, depending on the results of the final day of second-round play saturday. The American-born point guard scored 20 points and made several key baskets with the game on the line as Ukraine bounced back from a 34 point loss to Latvia. The team effort was what won the game for us, said Jeter, the brother of American sprinter Carmelita Jeter. Latvia really punched us and caught us off-balance. But going against a powerhouse like Serbia we knew that we could win it. Everybody else doubted us. Everybody else counted us out. But we as a team believed that we could get this win.
Serbia improved to 3-1, while Ukraine moved to 2-2. The Serbs will next play France and Ukraine meets Lithuania in their final second-round games. Latvia takes on Belgium and needs to win to have a chance of advancing. France is also 3-1 and Latvia 2-2. Alexis Ajinca scored 25 points for France, which led by as many as 22 before slowing down in the final quarter, allowing Latvia to pull within nine. But San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker finished with 23 points to help France slow the rally, while Nicolas Batum of the Portland Trail Blazers added 19 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Antoine Diot all but secured France's victory with a 3 pointer at the buzzer of the third quarter, after a Lithuania turnover gave France the possession with 0.9 seconds left. France Coach Vincent Collet said his team had learned from the times it came up short in the past.