LILLE, France — Jan Vesely and Tomas Satoransky had double-doubles to lead the Czech Republic past Croatia 80-59 Sunday and into the quarterfinals of the European Basketball Championship. The Czech Republic took command early and never relented, leading by as many as 30 against a Croatian team that had been considered favorite. But Croatia played without energy despite a number of NBA players in the team and never looked like it could trouble the Czechs. Center Vesely had 20 points and 13 rebounds, while guard Satoransky added 15 points, 11 assists and five rebounds. David Jelinek had 13 points. Bojan Bogdanovic had 12 for Croatia. The Czech Republic has 12 medals from the Europeans, including gold in 1946, but none since a silver in 1985. Croatia has not made the podium since 1995. Defending champion France overwhelmed Turkey 76-53 to make the quarterfinals Saturday. Greece set up a showdown with Spain by beating Belgium 75-54 for its sixth win in as many games. Spain pulled away at the start of the fourth quarter to beat Poland 80-66. Pau Gasol put the game away with eight straight points with just over three minutes left. Gasol, the tournament's leading scorer, finished with 30 points and seven rebounds. France went on a 14-0 run late in the second quarter and led by 10 at halftime to practically finish the job. Turkey could not match France's physical play. France has won all six games so far. The match saw the attendance record for an indoor game broken with a sell-out crowd of 26,135, according to the organizers. The previous record was held by Red Star Belgrade, which drew 24,232 to Belgrade Arena for a Eurocup quarterfinal against Budivelnik Kyiv. The previous record for a Eurobasket game was also set in Belgrade, with 18,900 fans watching the medal games in 2005. Guard Nando de Colo led France with 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. France's defense limited Turkey playmaker Ali Muhammed to nine points and five assists. France will next meet Latvia, which beat Slovenia 73-66. Latvia won the first title 80 years ago, but its best recent placing was eighth in 2001. Greece seeks its third Eurobasket title, and first in a decade. Spain has one of the most impressive runs in European championship history, having not finished lower than fourth in the last eight tournaments. It won in 2009 and 2011, and took the bronze two years ago. That record seemed in real jeopardy when it and Poland were tied 55-55 at the end of the third. But a 14-2 run lifted Spain ahead by 10. If Poland had any hopes of coming back, Gasol destroyed them with a jumper followed by two straight 3-pointers before leaving the game to a standing ovation. Spain played without guard Rudy Fernandez, who was nursing a sore back. Venezuela upsets Argentina Heissler Guillent scored 15 points and Venezuela pulled off another upset, beating Argentina 71-67 Saturday to win the FIBA Americas championship for the first time. Guillent scored 19 points in the semifinals against heavy favorite Canada Friday night to give the Venezuelans their first Olympic berth since Barcelona in 1992. Also Saturday, Canada beat Mexico 84-83 in the third-place game.— Agencies
