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LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – 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 (3-1) trailed by 13 early in the game and was down by five at halftime but outscored Italy 26-9 — including a 10-0 run — 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 (2-2).
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