European basketball champion Spain stayed on course to retain its title after beating tournament upstarts Macedonia 92-80 in a highly entertaining first semifinal Friday. The Spaniards, who won their first Eurobasket title in 2009, will play either France or 2007 winner Russia who clash in the second semifinal. Macedonia entered the 24-team tournament in Lithuania, which is also an Olympic qualifying event, as one of the underdogs but its first-half performance against the Spaniards showed their 7-2 record en route to the semis was no fluke. Led by centre Pero Antic and American-born point guard Lester Bo McCalebb, the Macedonians overcame a 26-18 first quarter deficit to lead 45-44 at halftime, having shown a variety of attacking options. Their hopes of producing yet another shock were dashed in the third quarter when Spain's magnificent point guard Juan Carlos Navarro scored 19 points, including a pair of successive off-balance three pointers. Spain led 71-62 at the end of the third quarter and maintained its lead throughout the final period, despite a valiant effort by Macedonia who are playing in only its third major tournament as an independent nation. Navarro finished with a game-high 35 points, Los Angeles Lakers centre Pau Gasol scored 22 to go with 17 rebounds, while his younger brother Marc and Congolese-born forward Serge Ibaka chipped in with 11 points each. McCalebb, the driving force behind Macedonia's success in the tournament, scored 25 points for the former Yugoslav republic and Antic poured 17 to go with nine rebounds. Russia marched into the semifinals Thursday after beating 2009 runner-up Serbia 77-67 thanks to an excellent all-round display by forward Andrei Kirilenko, who finished the game with 14 points and 11 rebounds, Serbia's playmaker Milos Teodosic finished with a game-high 20 points, but he also committed nine turnovers which invariably resulted in fast breaks and easy points for the Russians. Earlier Friday, Greece beat Serbia 87-77 to book an Olympic qualifying berth. The winners and runners-up of Eurobasket 2011 will qualify automatically for next year's Olympics along with hosts Britain, while the next four teams in line enter an inter-continental 12-team tournament for another three berths next year. Three of those four are hosts Lithuania, Greece and Macedonia, while the fourth will be the loser of the other semi-final between France and Russia.
