France, Spain in final, both in Olympics

Juan Carlos Navarro and reigning champions Spain ended Macedonia's fairytale run at the 2011 European Championship to set up a final against France, making their maiden trip to the final. Navarro lit up the Macedonia defense for 19 of his 35 points in the third quarter of Spain's 92-80 victory over Macedonia. Navarro, who scored 17 of his 26 points in the third period of Spain's quarter-finals win over Slovenia, actually out-scored Macedonia by himself in the period. "Navarro is this kind of player. He's a masterpiece. It's like a picture in the Louvre," said Spain coach Sergio Scariolo, whose team is now automatically qualified for the 2012 Olympics. Pau Gasol added 22 points and 17 rebounds while brother Marc Gasol had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Spain just were too much in the paint with 17 offensive rebounds in a 47-32 rebounding advantage along with a 22-6 advantage in second chance points. Macedonia, who are secured a spot in next summer's pre-Olympic qualifying tournament, received 25 points and five assists from Bo McCalebb and 17 points and nine rebounds from Pero Antic, but it was not enough to reach the final. Macedonia will face Russia for the bronze medal. Russia were handed their first loss of the tournament with France winning the second semi-final 79-71 to reach their first ever European final. The French finished second in the 1949 European Championship to Egypt but the tournament had a group stage at the end. France have secured just their second medal since 1959 after taking bronze in 2005. San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker scored 22 points while Nicolas Batum collected 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks. "It's like a dream come true. I'm so happy. I've been chasing for 11 years. And I had tears in my eyes when the buzzer came and I knew that we won the game," said Parker. "I'm very happy after 11 years of chasing that I can finally say I'm going to the Olympics." Andrei Kirilenko scored 21 points and Timofey Mozgov had 12 points for Russia. The game went back and forth in the first half with 12 lead changes and five ties. France held the biggest cushion at 39-31 late in the second quarter. The contest was dead-locked at 45-45 before France went on a 16-4 run spanning the third and fourth quarters with Ali Traore scoring all eight of his points in the spurt. Sergey Monya nailed a three-pointer to trim the margin to 61-55 before Batum converted a dunk and three-point play and Parker nailed a three-pointer to push the gap back to 10 points. Russia had one more run, getting the margin down to 69-64. But Parker hit two baskets and Batum threw down a dunk to re-establish a 75-66 lead with less than two minutes to play. Earlier Friday, Greece secured a spot in the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament with an 87-77 win over Serbia in the 5-8 place classification round. Ioannis Bourousis scored 27 points while Nikos Zisis had 18 points and Nick Calathes collected 10 points and 10 assists for the Greeks, who will play Lithuania for fifth place. Serbia, who were led by 22 points from Marko Keselj and 15 points from Nenad Krstic, will face Slovenia for seventh place.