LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – Jeffery Taylor scored 25 points to lead Sweden to an 81-62 upset of Russia at the European basketball championship on Saturday.
Russia, the Olympic bronze medalist last year and bronze medalist at the Europeans two years ago, now looks unlikely to make the second round after three straight defeats. Sweden is 1-2.
Also Saturday, defending champion Spain limited the Czech Republic to two points in the final quarter in Celje and ran away with a 60-39 victory despite its own poor shooting.
Jonas Jerebko added 22 points and 13 rebounds for Sweden in the Group D game in Koper. Sweden pulled away in the final quarter after leading for most of the game.
Aleksey Shved had 15 points for Russia and Semen Antonov added 13.
Spain missed its last seven 3-point attempts and was marginally more effective than the Czechs in the fourth.
The Czechs shot 24 percent from the field and Spain 32 percent. The Czechs pulled within five late in the third quarter but Spain then raised its defense.
Rudy Fernandez had 14 points and Ricky Rubio added 10 for Spain. Marc Gasol scored his only basket halfway into the third quarter but pulled down 10 rebounds. Spain is 2-1 in Group C.
Jan Vesely had seven points and 14 rebounds and Lubos Barton had 12 rebounds and five points for the Czechs, who fell to 1-2.
Top three teams from each of the four groups advance to the second round.
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