Source : NESHA STARCEVIC, AP Sports Writer SIAULIAI, Lithuania (AP)—After qualifying for the second round before even appearing on the court, Turkey beat Spain 65-57 on Monday to hand the defending champion its first loss of the European Championship.
Spain did not use Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol, who was resting a twisted ankle, and scored only two points in the final quarter. Turkey finished the game with a 16-0 run.
Turkey was assured of going through when Britain beat Poland 88-81 earlier in the day in Group A. Spain, Turkey and host Lithuania, a 98-69 winner over Portugal, made it through from that group.
Finland beat Montenegro 71-65 to surprisingly advance, along with Greece and Macedonia from Group C.
Greece advanced by defeating Croatia 74-69, while Croatia was surprisingly eliminated. Macedonia beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 75-63 and that result, along with Greece’s win, also helped Finland go through.
Georgia also advanced in its first appearance despite losing to Bulgaria 79-69. Ukraine’s 74-61 win over Belgium allowed Georgia to advance. Russia beat Slovenia 65-64 as both also advanced from Group D.
France beat Serbia 97-96 in overtime in the final match in Group B, with both teams advancing. Germany edged winless Latvia 81-80.
Spain, Turkey, Lithuania, France, Serbia and Germany will be together in one group. Russia, Slovenia, Georgia, Macedonia, Greece and Finland will be in the other.
Head-to-head results among qualified teams count in the second round. The top three teams in each of the four groups advance. The two finalists qualify for next year’s Olympics in London.
The most drama came in France’s win over Serbia. Tony Parker made two free throws with 19 seconds remaining in overtime and with one second left, Dusko Savanovic missed an open jumper inside the paint that would have given Serbia the victory on his 28th birthday.
Parker led France with 24 points, while Marko Keselj made seven of nine 3-point attempts to finish with 25 for Serbia.
“You only wish to have the last shot and we did that, but we just missed it,” said Serbia’s Kosta Perovic.
France coach Vincent Collet said it was “a very important win” because the points will count in the next phase. France is 5-0 and also beat Germany.
Gasol sprained his left ankle in Spain’s win over Lithuania.
“I’m better. I had some pain in the ankle but I’ll be ready to go on our next game on wednesday. Thanks for your support,” Gasol said on Twitter.
Emir Preldzic had 18 points to lead Turkey past Spain. Omer Asik contributed 12 points, while Ersan Ilyasova had 11 rebounds.
Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies had 12 points for Spain, while Felipe Reyes and Rudy Fernandez each contributed 11.
“We didn’t recover from yesterday’s game (against Lithuania), both physically and mentally,” Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said. “We never caught the right tempo.”
“If Spain scores two points in the last quarter it means the defense was great,” Turkey coach Orhun Ene said.
Russia made sure of winning Group D by defeating Slovenia 65-64 on Sergey Monya’s last-second shot and stayed perfect at 5-0.
Slovenia led throughout until Monya’s two-point shot, and Erazem Lorbek’s desperate attempt to win with two-tenths on the clock failed.
Russia finished the group with five wins in five games, while Slovenia was 4-1. Andrey Vorontsevich led Russia with 18 points, while Slovenia’s Lorbek finished with 14.
Petri Virtanen made three of four free throws in the final 20 seconds for Finland to beat eliminated Montenegro.
Tuukka Kotti had a steal with seven seconds remaining to deny Montenegro a last chance.
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