Favourites advance to U20 European Championship Semi-Finals

LIGNANO SABBIADORO (2015 U20 European Championship Div. A) - The four teams that won their respective First Round groups and occupied the top four seeds after the Second Round emerged victorious from Friday's quarter-final clashes at the U20 European Championship.

In Saturday's first semi-final in Lignano Sabbiadoro, the still undefeated Spain will take on France.

The second semi-final will see Serbia, the only other team to have reached this stage on a perfect record, doing battle with Turkey.

In the game that lifted the curtain on the quarter-finals, France delivered their best offensive performance so far in the tournament and used an 11-0 second-quarter run to pull away from Czech Republic and clinch an 80-58 triumph.

Guerschon Yabusele paced France with 13 points and added five rebounds, while Petr Cornelie collected a double-double of 11 points and 10 boards.

Spain enjoyed a superb five-minute stretch in the third frame to gain the upper hand in their quarter-final clash with Belgium and held on for a 67-55 win.

Juan Hernangomez was inspirational for Spain and registered a double-double effort of 17 points and 15 rebounds, also adding two assists, two blocks and two steals.

In the third quarter-final, Turkey nearly squandered a 13-point first-half lead but found the energy reserves in the clutch to halt Latvia's progress and secure a 72-58 win.

Metecan Birsen led the way for Turkey with 17 points, six boards, two assists and three steals.

Friday action in Lignano concluded with the most convincing quarter-final display, as Serbia outscored Lithuania 30-8 in an awe-inspiring second-quarter stretch and cruised to an 82-69 win.

Marko Guduric collected 17 points while Dejan Davidovac contributed 16 points and nine rebounds to the Serbian cause.

In the Classification Games for 9th to 12th place, Italy breezed past Ukraine 73-48, on the back of a 22-point, six-rebound showing by Simone Fontecchio.

The tournament hosts will meet Israel in the game for 9th place, as the Israelis out-defended Germany 54-46 on Friday, on the back of a 15-point effort by Naor Sharon.

Meanwhile Poland and Slovenia will clash in a crucial game away from the semi-final spotlight as they earned the right to do battle for 13th place, which grants its holder Division A status next year.

Poland outlasted Great Britain 86-84 in a dramatic overtime clash, with Igor Wadowski pouring in 20 points to lead six Polish players in double digits.

Slovenia pulled away from Russia for a 78-65 victory, propelled by Aleksej Nikolic's 21 points and five assists.

In the Classification Games for 17th to 20th place, Greece claimed a 74-67 win over Bulgaria thanks to 14-point contributions by each of Anastasios Spyropoulos and Michalis Liapis.

Croatia meanwhile enjoyed a 74-45 rout of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Josip Gulam scored 15 points and will meet the Greeks in the game for 17th place on Saturday.

Go to http://u20men.fibaeurope.com/en/ for complete coverage of the 2015 U20 European Championship Div. A.

FIBA