Rate it!

0 votes

Reigning champions Russia remained unbeaten with a narrow 71-69 victory over Macedonia to book their quarter-final place at EuroBasket in Poland.

Timofey Mozgov collected 25 points and 11 rebounds in a stand-out show while Andrey Vorontsevich weighed in with 10 points.

"We needed to look really far down deep in ourselves to win that ball game because it was looking pretty bleak," said Russian coach David Blatt.

"But in the end, we found it. And I am proud of what we have done and am looking forward to next stage."

Croatia also secured their progress to the last eight in Katowice as Roko-Leni Ukic scored 18 points in a close-fought 70-68 win over Germany.

"We expected a tough game. When we were losing 57-54 we didn't lose our head and in the end we played some tough defense," said coach Jasmin Repesa.

With progression secured, France rested their big names - including Tony Parker - but still beat Greece 71-69 to remain unbeaten.

"We didn't want Tony Parker to play 38 minutes again, and when we saw we can play without him, Boris Diaw and Ronny Turiaf on the floor," said coach Vincent Collet.

"I'm happy we managed to give them rest and win, which were our two goals.

"We wanted to win this game, but also use a chance to give some rest to our main players before the deciding final round."

More than the Games / Eurosport