Final Eight Results
Eight-Finals
Home Away BoxScore
Russia New Zealand 78 - 56
Turkey and their vaunted zone defense paved the way for another dominating win at the FIBA World Championship on Sunday night against France.
Bogdan Tanjevic's team scored 13 points off 11 first-half turnovers to take command and then lowered the boom in the third quarter before pulling away for a 95-77 triumph.
The Eight-Final victory has thrown the Turks into a Quarter-Final showdown with Slovenia, who blew away Australia 87-58 in the first game of the day.
The two-three zone employed by the Turks never gave France a chance.
With Omer Onan, Kerem Tunceri, Ender Arslan and Sinan Guler at the top of zone, Les Bleus couldn't cope.
When the French did throw the ball into the lane, the tall frontcourt of Turkey was an unmovable wall.
Hedo Turkoglu led the way with 20 points and the sensational Guler added 17.
Tunceri had a team-high three steals which all came in the first half when Turkey built a 43-25 advantage.
Vincent Collet's team managed to hang on for 26 minutes and only trailed 30-24 when Turkoglu and Co began to knock them out.
Tunceri came up with his third steal to trigger a fastbreak that Guler finished and after Ali Traore was called for travelling, an Oguz Savas three-point play made it 35-24.
France would end up closing the gap to 37-28 on a Florent Pietrus basket, but Turkey responded with an Ersan Ilyasova three-ball, another Savas basket and a Savas free-throw just two seconds from half-time for the 15-point edge.
Turkoglu began the second half with two three-pointers, Omer Asik made two free-throws and Onan had a lay-up for a 10-0 run that put the result beyond doubt.
Turkey ended up getting 21 points off turnovers for the game.
Slovenia have barely raised a sweat in disposing of Australia 87-58 in the Eight Finals at the FIBA World Championship.
It was an ominous performance by the fourth placed team from last year’s Eurobasket, and they did it thanks to a full board of contributors highlighted by Jaka Lakovic, who had 11 first half points on his way to 19 for the game. Primoz Brezec (12 points) and Goran Dragic (10 points) led the rest.
Australia itself has been suffering a long period of drought and it carried onto the basketball court in the first quarter, Slovenia leading 12-0 after nearly seven minutes. While Australia made a brief 6-0 run through Matt Nielsen and Patrick Mills, the quarter time score was 16-8.
When Lakovic and Sani Becirovic started the second quarter with consecutive triples the margin was 14, but worse was to come for Australia. The Boomers shot just 6/27 and gave up 9 turnovers for the half, and when Lakovic capped a 10-3 run with a three-pointer leading into half time the score was 42-21.
The second half was a more even affair but the game had long been decided. Slovenia won the third quarter 29-24, and the final term 16-13.
It was Australia’s largest defeat at a FIBA World Championship against an opponent not named the USA or the USSR. For the Boomers only Mills, Nielsen and Joe Ingles made it into double figures.
Slovenia now face the winner of the Turkey v France game in the FIBA World Championship Quarter Finals.
Defending champions Spain broke open a close game in the fourth quarter and continued their mastery over Greece by winning their Eight-Final showdown at the FIBA World Championship on Saturday.
Sergio Scariolo’s team, beaten twice in Group D, got a game-high 22 points from Juan Carlos Navarro but more importantly an excellent game from its bench and won 80-72 (boxscore) at the Sinan Erdem Dome.
Fran Vazquez and Felipe Reyes combined for 12 points and 17 rebounds off the bench.
Sergio Llull was also immense. He didn’t start but had nine points in 15 minutes.
The triumph has set up a Quarter-Final with Serbia, the team they hammered in last year’s EuroBasket Final in Poland.
With 5:49 left to play and Greece trailing 58-57, Rudy Fernandez scored five points in a 9-0 Spanish run that put them in front to stay.
A Vassilis Spanoulis three-ball cut the deficit to 67-60 with less than two minutes to play but Navarro replied with a three at the other end.
Greece kept the pressure on and cut the deficit to four but got no closer with the Spaniards securing victory from the free-throw line.
Fernandez scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half while Navarro had a game-high 22 points.
Greece have now lost to Spain in the last four major FIBA tournaments.
Spain beat them in the Final of the World Championship in 2006 and in the Semi-Finals of EuroBasket 2007. They overcame Greece in the Preliminary at the Olympics in 2008 and again defeated them last year in the Semi-Finals in Poland.
Dimitris Diamantidis, whose shot-blocking and steals helped keep the Greeks in the game, and Nikos Zisis each had 16 points in defeat.
An Aleksandar Rasic free throw with one second remaining has delivered Serbia an incredible 73-72 (boxscore) victory over rivals Croatia to claim the first place in the 2010 FIBA World Championship quarter finals.
After the Serbs had led by seven in the last quarter, Marko Popovic and Marko Banic led Croatia back from the brink. Popovic hit 8/10 free throws in the final quarter and drew the teams level with 2/2 with 5.9 seconds remaining.
But Rasic dribbled the length of the court and drew a foul on Davor Kus, hitting the first free throw and deliberately missing the second to give Croatia no chance of responding.
For Serbia, Nenad Krstic worked hard for his 16 points, and was well supported by Rasic (15 points) and Kosta Perovic (10 points). For Croatia Popovic was tireless with 21 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, while Roko Ukic (11 points) and Banic (10 points, 7 rebounds) were strong contributors.
Though Serbia raced to 5-0, it was Croatia who was faster on-court, scoring a number of times in transition. When Marko Tomas scored an easy fast break lay-up with 3:08 to play the score was 18-13, and a Kresimir Loncar triple just before quarter time had Croatia eight in front.
Serbia levelled scores six minutes into the second quarter, with Perovic having six points, but a hook from Ante Tomic and a three in transition from Popovic restored the Croatian lead.
The third quarter saw both teams trading baskets throughout, with the lead changing hands 12 times. In the last minute Milos Teodosic nailed a triple and fed Milan Macvan for a fast break lay-up Serbia had a 54-50 three quarter time lead.
A crucial play came with just under five minutes to play in the last quarter. After Croatia had missed a number of close shots and tip in opportunities on the one possession Macvan buried a three in transition to establish a 64-57 lead, and then held on in the tightest of finishes.
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