Hosts survive an overtime thriller with Lithuania; Turkey send France to classification games

VOLOS (Greece) - Spain outlasted Russia, France could have a 6-1 score and finish outside of the medals, Greece and Lithuania worked overtime and Ziga Samar's triple-double led Slovenia to the Semi-Finals - all of those highlight one of the craziest days in the history of FIBA U18 European Championship.

Greece needed Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos' heroics to force overtime at 55-all against Lithuania, and the forward continued in similar fashion after the fourth quarter. Rogkavopoulos finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds, giving Greece a 70-66 overtime win in front of another sell-out crowd in Nea Ionia Hall.

Azuolas Tubelis had one of the biggest individual games in recent history, but not even 23 points, 20 rebounds and 7 blocks were enough for his team to end the Greek run in Volos.

Greece will now face Spain, who defeated Russia 84-77. Santi Aldama had 25 points, 17 of those in the first half, with 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks, Usman Garuba finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds, but the real hero was Javier Garcia. The point guard had a stretch of nine straight points to send Spain from a one-point lead to an eight-point advantage with two minutes to play. Garcia had 16 points on the day.

Spain remain the only unbeaten team of the event, because France suffered their first defeat in the Quarter-Finals. Turkey celebrated a 69-64 win, and they've done it in a very "French" way - Furkan Haltali and Adem Bona grabbed consecutive offensive rebounds after missed free throws by Turkey in the last 20 seconds of the game.

Tibet Gorener was the top scorer for Turkey with 16 points, knocking down 4-of-5 three-pointers, Mustafa Kurtuldum scored 13 while keeping his calm from the free throw line to keep France away. Malcolm Cazalon had 21 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals for the defeated side.

Turkey will have more trouble in the backcourt in the Semi-Finals. They have to figure out a way how to stop Ziga Samar, the Slovenian all-rounder who had 14 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds against Great Britain, handing Slovenia a 71-57 win.

Slovenians are now on the verge of history - the last, and also the only time they stood on the podium at this level was in 2002, when Erazem Lorbek, Sasha Vujacic and other lost the Final to Croatia in Germany.

All the teams will now take a day off, with the Semi-Finals and the key relegation battles coming up on Saturday.

FIBA