Luka Doncic argued with the referee all night and ended up not playing in the final minutes of the game at the Basketball World Cup in Manila, Philippines, leading to Slovenia's loss to Canada, who managed to advance to the semifinals, where they will face Serbia on Friday.

Canada was led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 31 points and RJ Barrett's contribution of 24 points en route to a 100-89 win over Slovenia. The win gives Canada its first World Cup semifinal berth.

Gilgeous-Alexander said, "It's an honor, but we're not satisfied."

Doncic contributed 26 points in the game for Slovenia, but was ejected from the game after receiving his second technical foul with 6:37 left in the game. Both technical fouls occurred after he argued with the referee about the call or lack thereof. Slovenia was down by 15 points and pushed the lead back to nine shortly after Doncic's ejection, but it still wasn't enough to turn things around.

After the game, Doncic returned to the court in flip-flops to congratulate the Canadian players. He said, "Playing for the national team is emotional. A lot of times I can't control myself and that's always been a problem for me. But, you know, the refs told one of the guys that they wouldn't call a foul on him because he was coming at us. I don't think that's fair. I know I complain a lot, but I don't think it's fair. They've been playing physical with me, but if you say that, it's not fair."

The Canadians also lost Dillon Brooks for the game, who was also ejected for a technical foul shortly before Doncic was ejected. Canada will play Serbia in Friday's semifinals, while the U.S. and Germany will meet in the other semifinal. The winners of those two games will play in the World Cup final on Sunday night.

Slovenia will play Lithuania in Thursday's playoffs for the fifth through eighth place spots.

The win would be important for Canada, as it would be for Germany and Serbia. The top two teams in Europe will automatically qualify for the Paris Olympics, and Slovenia's best finish will be no better than fifth, so both Germany and Serbia will head to Paris for the Games.

Slovenia still has a chance to qualify for the Olympics through a qualifier next July.

Canada won a silver medal at the 1936 Olympics, but has failed to win again in 22 Olympic or World Cup appearances since. Regardless of what happens next in Manila, this will be the best World Cup finish for Team Canada. Previously, Canada finished sixth in both the 1978 and 1982 World Cups.

The first half of the game was evenly matched, with the teams trading leads over the first 20 minutes, with the largest gap being four points. Even at halftime, the rebound total was 14:14, but Canada changed the game with a 19-5 run at the start of the third quarter and kept the lead throughout. In the end, Canada made 33 free throws while Slovenia made 19.

Doncic said, "Congratulations to the Canadian team, they did a great job."

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