Posted: Sunday September 20, 2009 6:46PM; Updated: Sunday September 20, 2009 6:46PM

Gasol leads Spain to Euro title

Pau Gasol of Spain celebrates after Spain defeatied Serbia in their EuroBasket title game.

KATOWICE, Poland (AP) -- Pau Gasol scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead world champion Spain to a 85-63 win over Serbia in the final of the European basketball championship on Sunday.

The victory gives Spain its first ever European title after six runner-up finishes, including a one-point loss two years ago to Russia in front of its home crowd.

The Spaniards dominated from start to finish on both ends of the court, playing pressure man-to-man defense and getting out on the break for easy baskets to jump to a 15-point first quarter lead.

Serbia never recovered from the early onslaught.

Gasol dominated in the paint on both ends of the court, scoring down low and blocking three shots on his way to winning the tournament MVP honors.

Guard Rudy Fernandez chipped in with 13 points for Spain, while Uros Tripkovic led Serbia with 15 points.

Earlier Sunday, Greece slipped past Slovenia 57-56 to win the bronze medal.

In a hard-nosed defensive struggle, Greece used a 14-0 run in the first half to open a 10-point gap and hung on in the closing seconds to win the bronze two years after finishing fourth at the tournament.

"Today the team was very focused," Greece forward Antonios Fotsis said. "Everybody wanted to play well and at least win the bronze medal. This is a very big success for us."

Slovenia closed the Greek lead to just one point in the fourth quarter on a free throw from center Erazem Lorbek, but could never pull even despite a handful of chances.

Leading 57-56 with 4.6 seconds to play, Greece guard Vasileios Spanoulis missed two free throws, opening the door one final time for Slovenia. Bostjan Nachbar grabbed the rebound off the Spanoulis miss but couldn't hit a desperation three at the buzzer.

"I am very happy today and very proud of my players," Greece coach Jonas Kazlauskas said. "I think we did a great job, we were leading from the beginning to the last minutes."

Center Sofoklis Schortsanitis came off the bench to lead Greece with 23 points, while point guard Jaka Lakovic scored 16 points for Slovenia.

Also, France beat Croatia 69-62 behind 18 points from Antoine Diot in the fifth-place game.

Both teams had already qualified for next year's world championship in Turkey and were only playing to determine the final placings.

Also, guard Vitalii Fridzon scored 26 points to lead Russia past Turkey 89-66 for seventh place at the tournament. Center Omer Asik had 24 points and 10 rebounds for Turkey.