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France, Greece reach European Championship semifinals
"We played great defense," Parker said. "I cannot recall when Lithuania scored only 47 points in a game." Twins Ksistof and Darjus Lavrinovic provided some scoring for Lithuania after halftime. Ksistof hit the team's first 3-pointer and Darjus scored eight straight points at the end of the third quarter as Lithuania pulled within eight. But Diaw scored on a jumper and Parker made the next five points as France drew away. Rigaudeau and Parker made four free throws each for the final score. Earlier, Papaloukas scored the last 10 points for Greece, which rallied from an 11-point deficit. The point guard shot 6-for-7 from 2-point range and was 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. "We were a bit afraid of the Russians before the game," he said. "But when we saw that we could beat them during the match, we shifted into a higher gear and tightened our defense in the third quarter." Russia's Andrei Kirilenko, who stars for the Utah Jazz, finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks. Jon Robert Holden, an American-born, naturalized guard, added 15 points. Dimosthenis Ntikoudis had 11 points, the only other Greek player in double digits. Russia did not score for nearly 10 minutes at the end of the third and the start of the fourth quarter. A 3-pointer by Papaloukas gave Greece its first lead since the start of the game at 42-40. Russia's Vitaly Fridzon made a 3-pointer to reduce Greece's lead to 61-58.
Papaloukas then took over by converting four free throws.
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