Tue, Sep 11, 2007 - Page 19 News List

Greece close in on quarter-finals of European champs

AP , MADRID

Vassilis Spanoulis hit a three-pointer in the final second on Sunday to give Greece an 81-78 victory over Croatia and move them closer to a quarter-final berth at the European Basketball Championship.

Jose Calderon scored 17 to lift Spain past Russia 81-69 and into the quarter-finals with the 14-time champion, and Joao Gomes scored 23 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to help Portugal past Israel 94-85.

Spain and Russia top Group E with seven points, while Greece and Croatia have six each. Israel and Portugal have five apiece.

Defending champions Greece next play Portugal, with the winner advancing to the last eight.

Croatia can also guarantee their place in the knockout stage with a win over Russia, while Israel will know before their match against world champions Spain if they are still in the running.

Marko Popovic sunk two free throws with seven seconds left to pull Croatia into a 78-78 tie with Greece, but Spanoulis dribbled the length of the court, shook off his marker then converted a wide open shot from way behind the three-point line.

Dimitrios Diamantidis, who hit several three-point field goals in the final minutes, led Greece with 23 points, while Mario Kasun led Croatia with 15.

Calderon had Spain's first seven points to start the second half and with help from Jorge Garbajosa -- who finished with 11, the Spanish hiked their lead to 66-51 early in the fourth quarter.

Russia led 23-20 after the first quarter, but Calderon and Juan Carlos Navarro led a 10-0 run to start the second period put Spain ahead for good.

Andrei Kirilenko led Russia with 21 points.

Francisco Jordao scored 20 for Portugal, which won its third straight over Israel.

Portugal capped their best first quarter of the tournament with a 28-14 lead behind 57 percent shooting, including 4-of-8 three-pointers. Israel didn't shoot too badly, but eight turnovers led to nine of Portugal's points.

With Portugal's offense delivering, the defense also picked it up.

Portugal outrebounded Israel 45-25 and held forward Yaniv Green, who came in averaging 15 points per game, to zero points with only one attempt. Green finished with two points and three rebounds.

Yesterday, Olympic runners-up Italy were to play Turkey. Also in Group F, France could clinch their place in the last eight with a win over unbeaten Lithuania, who are already through along with Slovenia, who play Germany.

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