Spain win thriller to advance to 2015 EuroBasket semi-finals as holders France see off Latvia

Spain beat Greece in a thrilling quarter-final in Lille ©Getty Images

Spain advanced to the semi-finals of the 2015 EuroBasket after recording a thrilling win over Greece while hosts France needed their star Tony Parker to produce a superb display to keep their dream of defending their title alive after facing a strong challenge from Latvia in Lille.

The opening quarter-final tie proved to be one of the most exciting clashes of the tournament as the momentum swung regularly between the Spanish and Greek teams, with the former bidding to secure their ninth consecutive semi-final appearance at the biennial event.

There proved to be nothing between the teams at the end of the first quarter of the match with the score standing at 14-all, however Spain's quality looked to be shining through in the second period as they earned themselves a seven point lead over their opponents.

It therefore came as a surprise when Greece began to mount a recovery in the third quarter of the match with Giannis Antetokoumpo proving extremely adept at scoring points and picking up rebounds.

As a consequence the lead switched hands once again but Greece were unable to hold on as the match reached its finale with Spain able to win the final quarter 18-14 to end up sealing a narrow 73-71 victory.

Their triumph owed much to the performance of Rau Gasol, who contributed 27 points to their finishing total, while he was also assisted by Nikola Mirotic who added another 18.

In the evening match the expectation was all on the host nation as a packed crowd of 22,000 looked to see their side into the semi-finals, however Latvia began the brighter of the two nations and took a surprising 25-21 lead at the end of the opening quarter.

Tony Parker played a key role in France's win over Latvia ©AFP/Getty Images

If the fans might had started to feel edgy after the early setback, the record point-scorer in the tournament's history aimed to ease their nerves as Tony Parker began to put on a stunning display to bring his side back into the game, with the score at half-time 40-38 in favour of France.

Having taken the lead there was no stopping the holders as with the crowd now roaring them on they dominated the third quarter to establish a strong advantage and then close the match off impressively as the score was 84-70 when the buzzer signaled the end of the tie.

It leaves the French team with a mouth-watering semi-final against Spain, while the second last four encounter will be decided tomorrow with Serbia taking on the Czech Republic and Italy facing Lithuania in quarter-final clashes.