KATOWICE, Poland — Serbia used tough defense to upset defending champion Russia 79-68 Thursday and advance to the semifinals of the European basketball championship.

Serbia turned up the defensive pressure in the second quarter to take control with a 17-0 run for a 38-24 lead. Russia couldn’t get closer than 10 points the rest of the game.
“I think that we deserved this victory,” Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic. “The key to the game was the bench players.”
Serbia held Russia without a field goal for seven minutes, a stretch that included five turnovers and three missed layups.
“They really defended hard, and we stopped playing and we gave into that,” Russia coach David Blatt said. “It took us another quarter to recover.”
Guard Uros Tripkovic scored 18 points to lead Serbia, while center Kosta Perovic added 13 points and five rebounds.
Vitalii Fridzon had 15 points for Russia, which had only three players from the team that upset Spain in the 2007 final.
Serbia will play either Slovenia or Croatia in the semifinals on Saturday.