Kotawice – Spain ended the tournament the way it started, by playing Serbia.

This time was much different though, there would be no Serbian upset of the Spanish.

Spain displayed the talent and teamwork that had them pegged as the odds-on favorites of the tournament, trouncing Serbia 85-63 to win the country’s first ever Eurobasket gold medal in seven attempts.

(Discuss the Serbia-Spain finale)

The game started out evenly enough, and was tied at five apiece before Spain started firing on all cylinders.

In the next six minutes, Spain would go on to outscore Serbia 19-4 and go into the second quarter with a  24-14 lead. The favorites would build upon their lead in the second quarter, using a 16-6 run to double up their Serbian opponents 40-20 with a Pau Gasol layup.

Spain enjoyed a 53-29 halftime margin, led by Gasol’s 14 points and 8 rebounds, and Juan Carlos Navarro added 10 points by the intermission. At halftime, Spain got 12 more shots on offense mainly off 10 offensive rebounds, and converting over 50% of their shots while Serbia shot just 40%.

Led by Novica Veličković and Nenad Krstic, Serbia would attempt to cut into Spain’s lead getting it down to 58-44 before Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez would hit consecutive layups.

From there, Serbia wouldn’t threaten again.

Pau Gasol topped Spain with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks.  Rudy Fernández added 13 points and 5 rebounds, Juan Carlos Navarro had 12 points, and Ricky Rubio scored 10 points, his first double-digit scoring game of the tournament.

Veličković and Uros Tripkovic led Serbia with 15 points apiece. Nenad Krstic had 12 points.