POL – Spain reign against Poles, Serbia and Slovenia prevail

LODZ (EuroBasket 2009) - Spain beat Poland in their do-or-die clash at the EuroBasket on Wednesday to advance  to the Quarter-Finals and Slovenia prevailed in a nail-biter over previously unbeaten Turkey.
 
Also in Qualifying Round Group F action, Serbia came from behind to beat Lithuania whose coach Ramunas Butautas then resigned.
 
His team suffered five defeats in six EuroBasket games to fall out of contention for a place in the top six that would have guaranteed a place at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
 
All eyes in Lodz were on Poland, who had a chance to reach the last eight but needed to beat Spain and that was never going to happen on Wednesday with Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro in scintillating form.
 
Gasol swatted three shots in the first quarter to set the tone on defense and Navarro led a three-point shooting rampage by drilling seven of nine attempts from behind the arc as Spain routed the Poles, 90-68.
 
Spain made 13 of 25 shots from long range.
 
"We played the best team in Europe tonight and at times, the best team in the world," Poland coach Muli Katzurin said.
 
Navarro finished with 23 points and Gasol, who played just 18 minutes, contributed 20 with five rebounds.
 
Earlier in the day, Serbia trailed 75-71 to Lithuania midway through the fourth quarter when Novica Velickovic and Milos Teodosic each made a pair of three-pointers in a 12-0 run to put the Blues on top for good.
 
Teodosic, who has been one of the top players in the tournament, finished with 20 points and 12 assists as Serbia clinched third place and set up a Quarter-Final with Russia.
 
They will play the first game on Thursday while Spain and France will square off in the second game.
 
In the final game of the night, Slovenia proved once again they are as mentally tough as any national side at the EuroBasket when they upset Turkey, 69-67.
 
The win set up a Slovenia v Croatia Quarter-Final and a Turkey v Greece showdown in the other game on Friday.
 
Slovenia prevailed over Turkey despite being without three injured players.
 
Goran Dragic (knee) and Domen Lorbek (neck) sat out the game and watched from the bench with captain Matjaz Smodis (back) still unavailable.
 
"We had three players out today but this team will keep on fighting and keep on winning, even if we have only five players left," Slovenia star Bostjan Nachbar said.
 
"In two days, we will show up ready to play against Croatia."
 
The game had a thrilling finish.
 
Slovenia had led by as many as 19 points but Turkey stormed back and even took the lead in the third quarter.
 
Jure Zdovc’s team then appeared to take command.
 
Leading 60-58, Slovenia scored eight of the game's next 12 points for a 68-62 advantage with 50 seconds remaining.
 
Following two Omer Asik free-throws for Turkey, though, Uros Slokar missed a jumper for Slovenia and Samo Udrih fouled Ender Arslan while the Turk was attempting a three-pointer.
 
With 10 seconds left, Arslan made all three to cut the deficit to 68-67.
 
After Turkey quickly fouled Udrih and he made just one of two free-throws, Bogdan Tanjevic called a timeout to discuss the end-of-game strategy.
 
When play resumed, Arslan received the inbounds pass in his own half and then raced up the floor, penetrated and whipped the ball out to a wide-open Engin Atsur in the corner.
 
Atsur missed the potential game-winning three as Slovenia survived.
 
"I'm generally very satisfied with the team," Tanjevic said.
 
"We had a shot to win the game. Sometimes it goes in, other times it doesn't. Now we will face Greece, a team that has a lot of experience in Championships. But then again, we could have faced Croatia - a side that has 10 or 11 quality players.
 
"I believe that my team can continue to play well. The important thing is to recover our energy."
 
Jeff Taylor, Lodz
FIBA