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BEIJING -- Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers scored 20 points to lead world champion Spain to a 72-59 win over Croatia in an Olympic basketball quarterfinal Wednesday.
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Lithuania, bronze medalist at the 2000 Sydney games, eliminated host China 94-68 in another quarterfinal. Lithuania next faces Spain in Friday's semifinals.
Felipe Reyes scored 13 points for Spain, while Toronto Raptors point guard Jose Calderon added 10. Gasol grabbed a game-leading 10 rebounds.
Marko Banic had 15 points to lead Croatia, which as a team hit just 38 percent of its field goals.
The loss ended what had been a remarkable return to form for the world 20th-ranked Croatians, who had gone 3-2 in pool play. Spain has one loss in this tournament, to the United States.
The Spaniards got off to a strong start in the first quarter with a 12-1 run. Croatia battled to within 10 points at the beginning of the fourth, only to have Spain run up another 10 unanswered points.
