LILLE (EuroBasket 2015) - Pau Gasol produced one of the great EuroBasket shooting performances to secure Spain's place in the Quarter-Finals of the 2015 competition with an 80-66 victory against Poland in Lille on Saturday.

But it did not happen quite how Gasol, or coach Sergio Scariolo originally drew it up.

The 35-year-old connected on 6-of-7 three-point attempts - more than any other game in his career - en route to his first 30-point game at EuroBasket since the 2003 Final.

Spain struggled to find their rhythm in the first half, but Gasol's consistent scoring kept them in the game before they pulled away in the fourth quarter.

With Rudy Fernandez already missing because of back problems, coach Scariolo feared the worst when Gasol retired to the locker room during the player introductions before returning to inspire his team.

"I was drawing my first set play for the game, right at the beginning and said, 'okay, we go with Pau' then I turn around and say 'where is Pau?'" recalled Scariolo.

"But then he showed up, we breathed, and I was told he could absolutely not play more than five straight minutes.

"After five minutes, I had the substitution and he says ‘no, no, no'.

"I asked, 'what are we doing, taking a risk?' and he said, 'I am taking the risk'. He is a class player, a class person."

Gasol added: "I felt better after my trainer worked my leg, I was able to push through it and it didn't get worse.

"But I couldn't be as explosive as I normally am, close to the basket, so I had to settle for more outside shots and most of them went in. It kind of worked out that way.

"I've never scored six threes, I've never shot six threes. It was an accident, but a good accident for my team."

Gasol's team will take on Greece in the Quarter-Finals after they produced a 21-3 run in the second half to seize the initiative and beat Belgium 75-54.

Kostas Koufos had 13 points and 9 rebounds in what was his team's sixth consecutive win, but it owed much to a balanced offensive display.

France are also through to the Last Eight following a historic first appearance in Lille.

A new European record crowd of 26,135 watched Vincent Collet's side outclass Turkey 76-53 at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium as their depth told.

"In the first half we got many things from our bench, not only energy but scoring, many solutions," said Collet.

"The atmosphere was amazing and we hope to see it a couple more times. That's our goal now."

France will face Latvia on Tuesday after the Latvians held off a misfiring Slovenia 73-66 to advance to the Quarter-Finals for the first time since 2001.

Point guard Janis Strelnieks dictated the tempo for Latvia and finished with 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds as his team opened up the first double-digit lead of the game with 4:19 remaining off the back of an 8-0 run.

The remaining four Round of 16 games take place on Sunday. Click here for a full preview.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for complete coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA