Group E

Spain eliminated Slovenia from the quarter-final race with a 73-69 in Group E of the OMNITEL U18 European Championship at Siemens Arena in Vilnius, Lithuania on Wednesday evening.

The victory gives Spain a 2-3 record in the group while Slovenia dropped to 1-4 at the bottom of the group on their way to the 9-12 classification games.

Jaime Fernandez and Spain went back on the winning road in a hard fought game against Slovenia

Spain will wait for the result of the game between Poland and France later on today to know where they are heading next.

Francisco Guerra was the top scorer for Spain with 19 points and also the key steal to decide the game followed by Joan Tomas and Jaime Fernandez with 10 points each.

Alen Omic led Slovenia with 20 points and 11 rebounds while Marko Pajic added 15 points with 13 rebounds that weren't enough this time.

Slovenia relayed on Omic right from the tip off and the big man bestowed his team a 20-22 lead after 10 minutes by scoring no less than 9 points in that period.

Kelman Prepelic combined shots as Slovenia took a 26-32 lead, but Albert Ventura and Fernandez tied the score at 34-34 before Omic finalized the 1st half with a point from the line to register a 36-37 on the scoreboard.

Pajic moved well without the ball and finished a great pass by Luka Rupnik to lift Slovenia to a 43-48 lead, but Tomas and Alejandro Barrera created a 10-0 Spanish run as the teams started in the deciding quarter, 53-48.

Omic scored the next 8 points for Slovenia but then it was time for Guerra to wake up.

The Spanish big man kept his team ahead and scored no less than 13 points in the most crucial period of the game.

Slovenia wasn't far behind and when Prepelic scored from the perimeter and added a bonus from the line it was just 69-67 with a minute to play.

The last ball was in Slovenia's hands still down by two, but Guerra reached for a great steal and finished with a strong slam to seal the story.