Slovenia claimed the final quarterfinal spot at the European Basketball championship, beating Finland 67-60 Monday to set up a match against defending champion Spain. Greece beat Georgia 73-60 in another Group F game. Greece had already qualified and will meet France in the quarterfinals. In the late game Russia beat Macedonia 63-61. Russia will now face Serbia and the loser Lithuania in the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals start Wednesday in Kaunas and Spain and Slovenia will open the series. The two finalists of the tournament will secure automatic slots at next year's Olympics in London. The next four teams will advance to an additional 12-nation qualifying event before the games. From that competition, three will make it to the 12-nation Olympic tournament. Finland trailed for most of the game but made it a four-point contest with 32 seconds remaining. It then wasted two possessions before point guard Goran Dragic of the Houston Rockets sank two free throws to put the game away. “It was a big game and we are very disappointed,” said Finland forward Tuukka Kotti. “We had terrible rebounding and a lot of missed lay-ups. We just couldn't get any offensive rebounds.” Slovenia grabbed 17 and had 42 rebounds overall to 33 for Finland. Slovenia's big men combined for 32 points in the paint. “We are just too small under the basket,” Finland coach Henrik Dettmann said. Finland's success usually hinges on its 3-point shooting. In its previous win over Georgia, Finland took 26 shots from beyond the arc and made 13 of them.
