Greece, Slovenia join Spain, Serbia

KATOWICE, Poland – Greece hung on for a 76-74 overtime win against Turkey and Slovenia overcame a 15-point deficit to beat Croatia, 67-65, in the European basketball championship quarterfinals on Friday.

Greece will play Spain in the semifinals on Saturday, while Slovenia will take on Serbia, a team it beat by 11 in the opening round.

In a physical, defensive game, neither Turkey nor Greece could pull away, Turkey guard Ender Arslan drove past Antonios Fotsis to hit a left-handed scoop lay-up at the buzzer to force the extra period.

Greece came out strong in overtime, jumping to a 75-69 lead with 1:16 to play when point guard Vasileios Spanoulis hit his second three pointer of the period with the shot clock winding down.

But Turkey battled back, pulling to within 75-74 with a three pointer from Ersan Ilyasova and a bucket down low from Hedo Turkoglu, before Greece guard Nikolaos Zisis hit one of two free throws to make it 76-74 with 9.8 seconds to play.

With the ball in his hands again in the closing seconds, Arslan went for the win this time, but his three-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer bounced out.

“We are very happy today, and I am very proud of my players,” Greece coach Jonas Kazlauskas said. “I think the key to the game was the excellent defense of our players, and for sure the individual game that Spanoulis showed today.”

Spanoulis led Greece with 23 points and seven assists, but also committed seven turnovers.

“It’s an incredible feeling to reach the best four in Europe with such a young team,” Spanoulis said. “We made mistakes because we were so hungry for the win.”

After a promising 5-0 start at the tournament, Turkey lost its last two in the closing seconds and can finish no better than fifth.

“The Greek team, they shot 35 free throws, we shot only 13, and ... they killed us in rebounds, and I think that was pretty much the key to the game,” Turkey guard Sinan Guler said. “It’s a shame that we started off so good (at the tournament) and didn’t close it out as we wanted to.”

Turkoglu scored all of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to pace Turkey.

Slovenia’s smothering defense held Croatia scoreless for nearly 9 minutes and to just 18 points in the second half to reach the semifinals for the first time.

“In the first half the shots weren’t going in, but we stuck to the plan,” power forward Uros Slokar said. “We played defense, we kept going with defense.”

After trailing by 15 in the first half, Slovenia went ahead 51-50 for the first time since the opening minute on center Erazem Lorbek’s turnaround jumper in the lane. Slovenia never trailed again.      (AP)