Game Summary

Turning point: Spain had a 15-point first quarter lead and it was 24 points late in the first half before Serbia went on a 15-6 run in the third quarter to trim the margin to 58-44. But Spain answered with a 9-0 surge to re-establish domination of the contest.

Hero: Pau Gasol was unstoppable inside for the Spaniards as he out-rebounded Serbia by himself 8-7 in the first half. The star center dominated the paint at both ends.

Stats: Spain out-rebounded Serbia 44-23, including 18 offensive rebounds, while committing just nine turnovers and holding Serbia to 6 of 19 from long range.

----------------------------------------------------

Spain tore apart Serbia 85-63 to capture their first-ever EuroBasket gold medal in Katowice, Poland on Sunday night.

World champions in 2006, silver-medal winners at EuroBasket 2007 in Madrid and runners-up to Team USA at last year's Olympics, the Spanish underlined their status as the dominant side on the continent.

On Sunday Juan Carlos Navarro finally got to hoist the EuroBasket trophy.

They will travel to Turkey next year for the FIBA World Championship as one of the gold-medal favorites.

Pau Gasol, who won an NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers in June, finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds and also blocked three shots - all game-highs.

"This is an amazing feeling," said the seven-footer, who was voted MVP of the EuroBasket.

"It's been an unbelievable year for me - first the NBA title and now a gold medal at the EuroBasket, something that we had never achieved before.

"We have played great and we truly deserve to enjoy this."

Serbia had won the first meeting between the two sides, 66-57, on opening night in Warsaw and they were sky high after edging Slovenia in overtime to reach the final.

Their coach, Dusan Ivkovic, had led the former Yugoslavia to three gold medals in as many finals.

But Spain entered the contest red hot, riding a four-game winning streak and they delivered a first-half knockout with a couple of decisive scoring surges.

With the game knotted at 5-5, Ricky Rubio buried a three-pointer right in front of the Spanish bench to ignite a 15-2 run.

Six different players contributed points in that scoring burst.

Serbia dug in their heels and fought back, twice reducing the deficit to eight points.

A Novica Velickovic jump shot closed the gap to 24-16 at the start of the second quarter and, after Marc Gasol tapped in Felipe Reyes' miss for Spain, Ivan Paunic and Velickovic each split a pair of free-throws to make it 26-18.

However, that proved to be as close as Ivkovic's team would get.

Led by Gasol, Spain blew the game wide open.

Spain answered with an electrifying 9-0 spurt that began when Raul Lopez penetrated into the lane and lofted an alley-oop pass that Pau Gasol grabbed with both hands to dunk.

After Rudy Fernandez made a pair of free-throws, he scored on a fast break and Reyes also scored in transition for a 34-18 lead.

Following two Uros Tripkovic free-throws, Spain grabbed a stranglehold on the game. Gasol, who missed two foul shots, made amends quickly when catching an alley-oop pass from Navarro and dunking again.

Rubio went to the charity stripe and made both attempts before Gasol scored down low for a commanding 40-20 advantage.

The final blow in the first half came after a Milos Teodosic three-pointer for Serbia with six seconds remaining.

Jorge Garbajosa quickly grabbed the ball and hurled a pass up the floor to a streaking Gasol who laid the ball in

Milos Teodosic struggled, scoring only five points, but was named to the All-Tournament team.

right before the buzzer for a 52-29 lead.

Serbia closed the gap to 58-44 with 3:22 to go in the third quarter, but Rudy Fernandez had two baskets on fastbreaks to spark a 9-0 run and take a 67-44 advantage heading into the final frame.

Kosta Perovic cut the deficit to 21 but Carlos Cabezas answered with a three-pointer and Serbia got no closer than 22 points the rest of the way. Spain's lead grew to 29 midway through the period.

Serbia did not win the gold medal yet they went much further than anyone expected and the disappointment was quickly forgotten.

 "It was important for us to bring respectability back to Serbian basketball after what happened two years ago. We did that at this tournament," said Perovic.

Milenko Tepic predicted a bright future for this young Serbian team.

"Today was a tough game for us. We were still tired from last night's win over Slovenia. But the future is bright for us. We were the youngest team here and that means we will have a lot of time in years to come."

Pau's younger brother Marc thought Spain's success was that much sweeter as they had their share of troubles in the tournament.

"We struggled in this tournament, but that makes the gold medal even better," he said.

Sergio Scariolo (Spain Coach):

"It's a day we've been dreaming about since July. The most impressive thing is not that we did it, but how we did it, dominating the last few games. My players showed great professionalism, commitment and trust in this tournament. I want to thank also my coaching staff for their advice, as well as the Spanish federation, for letting me driving this Ferrari."

Pau Gasol (Spain):

"We are extremely happy with this outcome. For the last five and a half games we've been playing amazingly well. We worked very hard to win this championship and I am super proud of my teammates, as well coaching staff. We played this game exactly how we wanted - starting with intensity, confidence and just being happy to play basketball."

Dusan Ivkovic (Serbia Coach):

"The Spanish team was better tonight and they absolutely deserved this win. They are playing so many years together, which gives them a big advantage. I'm very happy and satisfied with our performance here, I can say that we won a medal earlier than we expected it to happen. Today I think for the first time my players felt the pressure of the final game. For example we rebounded the ball only seven times during the first half, compared to 24 for Spain. The other reason was that our bench players didn't help us tonight as they did in previous games."

Nemanja Bjelica (Serbia):

"Spain deserved their victory, they controlled the game for the full 40 minutes. Our goal here was to qualify for the World Championships in Turkey, we did it, and we also a silver medal.  Everybody in Serbia is satisfied and we are satisfied too."

Spain and Serbia will square off for the second time at EuroBasket 2009 when they meet in Sunday's gold-medal game showdown in Katowice.

The Serbians, who won the first encounter 66-57 in Warsaw, defeated Slovenia in overtime on Saturday night to advance to the title game while Spain hammered Greece in their Semi-Final.

Milos Teodosic should keep Ricky Rubio busy on the defensive end of the floor.

Serbia have been so good in Poland that it's easy to forget how far they have come in a short space of time.

Just over a year ago, they were putting the finishing touches on a EuroBasket Division A campaign that saw them win seven of eight qualifying games.

At the same time, Spain were competing at the Beijing Games where they reached the Olympic final and ultimately suffered a narrow defeat to the United States.

Spain coach Sergio Scariolo has seen a lot of Serbia this year and is full of admiration for the team.

"Serbia is a hard, talented organized team that has players at every position," Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said.

"The fact that Serbia has assured themselves of a medal is good news for European basketball because it is one of the historic mothers of the sport.

"They have already beaten us in the Preliminary Round and that will help us to give them the respect they deserve."

In that first encounter, Serbia came up with 12 steals and blocked four shots.

They harassed the Spanish shooters non-stop for 40 minutes, which led to a woeful two of 19 (11%) shooting from long range and 18 of 42 (43%) inside the arc.

Pau Gasol, the leader of Spain who was coming off a finger operation and had not played in any of the warm-up games, missed his first seven free-throws before finishing one of eight.

Both sides finished 2-1 in the 'Group of Death' that also included Slovenia and Great Britain and made it to the next phase of the competition.

The turning point in Spain's season came after their 63-60 defeat to Turkey in the Qualifying Round Group F.

Trailing Lithuania 24-15 at the end of the first quarter, Spain finally shifted gears and began to play defense.

They reeled off 23 unanswered points to take the lead against the Baltic side and stormed to an 84-70 victory.

Pau Gasol had 19 points and eight rebounds, but the most telling statistics in that contest were the 12 steals Spain came up with and the six shots they blocked.

Gasol, who played 24 minutes in that game, had three of those blocks.

"We started the EuroBasket with a lack of rhythm and perhaps a little overconfident that results would come our way," Gasol said.

"But now we are enjoying a good time and we hope to continue like this until the final day."

If Serbia arrived in Poland without the star power of past tournaments and just one NBA player in their captain and center, Oklahoma City's Nenad Krstic, they sure have plenty of stars after this EuroBasket.

None is brighter than Milos Teodosic, their tough-as-nails point guard who scored 32 points in a game-winning performance against Slovenia on Saturday night.

The Olympiacos playmaker is only 22 years old but has played like a hardened veteran.

Teodosic hit six three-pointers against Slovenia, including one with 22 seconds remaining to knot the contest at 79-79 and send the game to overtime.

He is shooting an eye-popping 43.9% (18 of 41) from three-point range.

On a team that is ranked 10th in that department at 33.5%, his accuracy shows how important he is to the Serbian offensive attack.

His teammate and close friend, Novica Velickovic, said: "Milos Teodosic is one of the best point guards in Europe.

"What he did today was unbelievable. I'm so happy for him.

"This is a great thing for Serbian basketball and this new generation. "

Serbia know that Spain have most of the players in their squad that won the world title in 2006, and captured silver medals at EuroBasket 2007 and at last year's Olympics.

But they also remember opening night, when they upset them in Group C.

"Spain play much better now than in the beginning when we beat them," said Velickovic.

"It'll be difficult but we don't give up in advance."

Last Time Out: In the EuroBasket Semi-Finals, Spain defeated Greece 82-64 and Serbia won 96-92 in overtime against Slovenia.

Head-to-Head: Serbia defeated Spain 66-57 on the first night of EuroBasket 2009 in Warsaw, Group C.

Key Match-up: Ricky Rubio v Milos Teodosic.  Teodosic dominated Rubio in the first meeting, particularly with his tenacious defense. Rubio has since recovered to become one of Spain's key players.

X-Factor: Kosta Perovic. The big man came off the bench and excelled on both ends of the floor for Serbia in the first half. Fouled seven times, he made 10 of 13 free-throws and scored 18 points while blocking three shots.

Key Stat: Rudy Fernandez leads the EuroBasket in steals with an average of 2.3 per game. Spain scored 15 points off turnovers in their win over Greece. Serbia made 32 of 39 (82%) free-throws in their overtime triumph over Slovenia.

Sounding Off: "We're one step away from our dream" - Spain's Pau Gasol after Saturday's Semi-Final win over Greece.