Host Turkey stayed perfect at the basketball World Championships by beating traditional rival and neighbor Greece 76-65, while defending champion Spain was anything but in a 76-73 defeat to Lithuania for its second loss.
Ersan İlyasova of the Milwaukee Bucks led Turkey with 26 points and the host team pulled away thanks to a 26-10 third quarter after leading by two at halftime.
Spain wasted an 18-point lead before Linas Kleiza scored four points in the last 35 seconds to clinch the win for Lithuania. Spain is also the reigning European champion and the Olympic silver medalist and has been one of the most dominant teams in the past few years. But it has been missing center Pau Gasol the Los Angeles Lakers and guard Jose Manuel Calderon and has lost two of its three games.
Lithuania is a traditional basketball power but has been struggling in recent years and needed a FIBA wild card to make the tournament.
But it is now 3-0 and is essentially sure of reaching the single-elimination second round as one of the top four teams in its group.
Spain (1-2) looks like it will make it too since its last two group rivals are Lebanon and Canada, with one win between them so far.
Turkey improved to 3-0 and can secure top spot in the six-team Group C when it plays Puerto Rico on Wednesday. Greece (2-1) won its first two games and is also likely to finish in the top four in the group and advance.
"We were very successful. We won 3 out of 3," said Turkish point guard Kerem Tunçeri. "We are very happy."
Before a partisan crowd of 10,000 in Ankara, Ioannis Bourousis led Greece with 15 points, while no other Greek player scored more than nine points. Ömer Aşık added 12 and Semih Erden added 10 for Turkey.
Greece lost despite fielding Antonis Fotsis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who missed the first two games through suspensions at the championship. They were suspended by FIBA ahead of the tournament for their part in a recent brawl in an exhibition game against Serbia.
İlyasova scored 12 points in the first quarter as Turkey took a 22-15 lead.
Semih Erden's dunk put Turkey 10 points up at 1:30 left in the third quarter and the host's kept a a commanding lead the rest of the way. Turkey outrebounded Greece 37-31 and made 48 percent of its 3-pointers to Greece's 30.
A small group of Greek fans unfurled a banner that read: "We are neighbors and not enemies," in reference to improved relations between the neighbors since they helped each other in the wake of massive earthquakes that hit both countries in 1999.
Bourousis said he was happy to play in Turkey.
"For us, it is no problem, it is not political," Bourousis said. "We are friends."
"We had a bad second half and lost pace. The Turks were on target and by the time we got back in the game it was too late to turn it," he said.
Fotsis said Turkey was strong at home.
"They took the lead and held onto it — that's it," he said. "We have to improve for our next game, and we can."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas watched the match together after the Turkish minister hosted his Greek guest at a fast-breaking dinner during the holy month of Ramadan.
In İzmir, Lithuania used a 23-5 run — including a 45-second spurt in which Jonas Maciulis dunked twice on fast breaks — to tie the score at 66 with 5:25 left in the game.
After Kleiza made two free throws with four seconds left, Raul Lopez scrambled down the court to get Spain a last look from behind the arc, but Martynus Pocius deflected his pass out of bounds as time expired.
Kleiza finished with 17 points, while Maciulis and Pocius finished with 13 each.
Marc Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro led Spain with 18 points each. Ricky Rubio, the 19-year-old guard, was just 1-of-7 from the field to finish with three points and two assists.
"We were not able to keep our focus in the forth quarter and our concentration against a very good team," Spanish coach Sergio Scariolo said.
Lithuania will play France (3-0) on Wednesday to decide the winner of Group D.
Nicolas Batum and Mickael Gelabale each hit a pair of free throws in the final 17 seconds to help France clinch a 68-63 win over Canada.
Canada's third straight loss crippled its chances of finishing in the top four.
Batum led France with 24 points, while Levon Kendall had 15 for Canada.
In other games, Russia (2-1) beat winless Ivory Coast 72-66, New Zealand (1-2) beat Lebanon (1-2) 108-76 and Puerto Rico (1-2) beat China (1-2) 84-76.
