Russia crushed Bulgaria 95-57 in the Qualifying Round at the U18 European Championship Men 2009, in Hagondange, France.

Despite being without three key players - Pavel Antipov (virus), Ivan Lazarev (ankle) and Gleb Plotnikov (knee) - the Russians got off to a quick start, taking a 37-9 lead to put the game out of reach.

Russia shot 21 for 38 in the first half, including six for 12 from three-point range and made most of their free-throws (11 for 13), correcting a weakness that had been apparent earlier in the tournament and cost them dearly in their game against Turkey on Monday.

Mikhail Solovyev's side used some balanced scoring - eight of nine players who took to the court in the first two quarters had four or more points - to take a 59-20 lead.

Meanwhile Bulgaria shot reasonably well - the little amount of time that they had the ball - but had 16 turnovers by half time.

Georgi Mladenov's side did improve as they outscored Russia 19-18 in the third quarter but the deficit was too big to expect what would have been an unpredictable come-from-behind win.

Pavel Shavkunov led four players in double-figures for Russia with 19 points.

Plamen Hristov was the only Bulgarian to reach double-digits with 13 points.