Spain dashes Greek hopes for a Eurobasket medal

Pau Gasol scored 27 points and Nikola Mirotic added 18 to book Spain’s place in the semifinals with a 73-71 victory over Greece.

With influential guards Jose Calderon and Juan Carlos Navarro also absent, Spain coach Sergio Scariolo praised his team for overcoming the setbacks.

Mirotic made two free throws to give Spain a six-point lead as Greece center Yanis Bourousis fouled out with 3:30 remaining. Spain was ahead by six points with 1:05 left to play in the game. It would have capped a last-ditch effort by Greece to overturn a Spanish advantage that during the game had reached up to nine points, but the Greeks kept coming back into the match and even led by up to four points (53-49).

Down by two points, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s desperation heave did not hit the rim, allowing Spain to escape with the victory.

Spain featured a two Bulls players, Nikola Mirotić and Pau Gasol, against young Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo on Greece. Spain advance to the semifinals for the ninth consecutive EuroBasket despite playing without most of their superstars this year like Ricky Rubio and Marc Gasol.

But Gasol got fouled and made one of two free throws with two seconds left for the final score. Rudy Gobert also provided a huge lift as he finished with 13 points on top of six rebounds and six blocks for France.

Parker finished with a game-high 18 points but missed 12 of 17 shots.

Either Spain or France must wait until one month before the Olympics to learn if it will qualify for Rio in men’s basketball.

The game was tight from start to finish, as two of Europe’s best teams duked it out.