After clinching a berth in the Eurobasket 2009 quarterfinals, Turkey will meet Serbia on Monday.

Turkey beat Spain 63-60 on Saturday to win its fourth-consecutive victory in the European Basketball Championship, guaranteeing a spot among the top four of Group F.

Young centers Semih Erden and Ömer Aşık proved to be key forces against Spain, producing a combined 24 points and 10 rebounds. The duo was also stingy on defense, giving star brothers Pau and Marc Gasol little space to breathe in the paint.

Barcelona forward Ersan Ä°lyasova was Turkey’s high scorer with 15 points and added a key block with only seconds left to play. Ä°lyasova blocked guard Sergio Llull’s shot with Turkey up by one, allowing guard Ender Arslan to grab the rebound and start a fast break. Erden was fouled and then converted a pair of free throws to seal the win for the “12 Giants.”

Also on Saturday, Slovenia had little trouble beating Lithuania 81-58 and Serbia defeated host-country Poland 77-72.

Speaking after the game, Turkey’s coach Bogdan Tanjevic said that his team performed well in the game, which ended with “a dramatic finish.”

“We knew that Spain was effective in fast plays, so we tried to control the tempo and we did that well,” said Tanjevic. “The game ended with a dramatic finish but we grabbed the ticket for the quarterfinals. Now we will play for rankings.”

The winner of Group F will meet the fourth-seeded team in Group E, so teams will try to finish strong in order to stave off the challenge of a better team in the quarterfinals.

Turkey has six points in three games to lead the group over five-point teams Slovenia and Serbia. Spain and Poland have four points and currently vie for the last spot with two games left to play.

Center OÄŸuz SavaÅŸ said that there is not much time to be lost on celebrations.

“This is an important victory but we will only celebrate it for one day,” he said. “Then we will concentrate on the Serbian game.”

Ä°lyasova agreed: “We played very well against a very good team. We are happy but the championship continues.”

The Serbia-Turkey game tips off at 10 p.m. on Monday.




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