DUBAI (FIBA U17 World Championship) - Spain wasted a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter but fought back to down European rivals France, 71-67, and reach the Semi-Finals of the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship, setting up a showdown with Australia for a spot in the Final.

Spain, who lost in the top four at the 2012 FIBA U17 Worlds and ended up taking fourth place, were paced by 20 points from Sergi Garcia while Ramon Vila added 15 points and Pablo Perez chipped in with 12. The duo of Santiago Yusta and Xabi Lopez-Arosteguj were held to just eight combined points - 19.3 points fewer than the average for the Spaniards' two leading scorers.

Stephane Gombauld scored 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter while grabbing 11 rebounds but couldn't prevent the French defeat which means they move into the Classification Games 5-8. Amine Noua had 19 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

Neither team could really gain an advantage in the first quarter with the biggest lead being six points for France at 11-5. Perez and Garcia were the main men for Spain while Noua led the French as there were six lead changes in the opening period and one tie with the French ahead 22-17 after 10 minutes.

The game remained close in the second quarter with three more lead changes and three ties. Spain led 32-30 with two minutes left in the half when Jorge Turbica and Garcia both nailed three-pointers in an 8-3 run to close the quarter for a 40-33 advantage at the break.

France trimmed the deficit to 44-38 early in the second half, but Spain answered with the next seven points for a 51-38 lead, which turned to 58-47 after three quarters.

Spain were up 59-49 early in the fourth quarter when the team went cold offensively, failing to score for more than six minutes as Gombauld reeled off nine points in a 12-0 run to edge France back in front, 61-59.

A Garcia jumper ended the Spaniards' drought and Garcia and Perez both nailed three-balls for a 67-65 lead.

After a French turnover, Perez drove to the rim for a basket and Garcia then made two free throws with 6.8 seconds to ice the game at 71-67.

FIBA