Summary Croatia reaches quarterfinals of European basketball championship with a 76-68 victory over Italy.
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) - Croatia rallied with a big third quarter to reach the quarterfinals of the European basketball championship with a 76-68 victory over Italy on Saturday.
Croatia trailed by 13 early in the game and was down by five at halftime but outscored Italy 26-9 in the third to go ahead for good, holding off a late Italian rally.
Shooting guards Bojan Bogdanovic and Krunoslav Simon had eight points each during the run and point guard Roko Leno Ukic scored six straight to spark Croatia s comeback.
Bogdanovic finished with 18 points and Simon had 14, while Luigi Datome had 24 for Italy.
Croatia is now 3-1 and sure to go through while Italy is 2-2 and still has to play defending champion Spain.
