Theo Papaloukas's driving lay-up with 6.7 seconds remaining completed a furious 14-1 flurry to the finish as Greece overcame a 12-point deficit in the final 2:30 to knock off Slovenia 63-62 and live on for another chance to defend their EuroBasket title.

Papaloukas added yet another chapter to his superstar and legendary status with 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, setting up another showdown with world champions and hosts Spain in Saturday's semi-finals.

		Matjaz Smodis and Slovenia had a big lead late but could not hold on.

"Slovenia played more intelligent than we did and better than us for 39 minutes. But we played better in the last minute. We had no chioce," said Papaloukas, who had two points and zero assists at half-time.

"We pressed, made lay-ups and we got the job done. We showed character to come back. We've been in these situations before."

"I'll never forget this game, this moment. This team is unbelievable. It's not the first time it's happened to us. But it shows that we never stop believing," said Nikolaos Zisis, who hit two foul shots and a three-pointer in the thrilling 14-1 spurt.

Lazaros Papadopoulos added 10 points for the reigning champs, who forced Slovenia into four turnovers and two missed three-pointers in the final 2:30.

Jaka Lakovic had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists but his potential game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer fell well short of its target.

"It's heart-breaking. We played a great game until the final 2:30 and Greece are simply more experienced than we are," said Slovenia big man Erazem Lorbek.

Radoslav Nesterovic collected 16 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots, and Matjaz Smodis added 10 points but it was not enough for the Slovenians, who lost their second straight game and face Germany in the 5th-8th place classificiation on Saturday.

Both teams came out ready to play and gave the fans a real back-and-forth battle with four lead changes and six ties.

A late Lakovic three-pointer gave Slovenia a 17-12 advantage, which Greece trimmed to 17-14 to end the first period.

The see-saw affair continued in the second half and Greece went ahead 28-25 on Vasileios Spanoulis's jumper with three minutes left.

But Ales Pipan's men responded with a 9-0 run, featuring a three-pointer by Erazem Lorbek and a driving lay-up at the buzzer by Goran Dragic to send the teams into the locker-room with Slovenia ahead 34-28 - after 12 lead changes and eight ties.

Slovenia came out working hard on defense and held Greece without a basket for the first 3:34 in building a 41-28 lead.

A three-pointer by Dimitrios Diamantidis trimmed the margin to 49-40, but the Slovenians were ahead 51-40 going into the fourth.

Uros Slokar's inside basket increased the Slovenia lead to 16 points - 58-42 - with less than eight minutes to play. And Lakovic's three-pointer made it 61-49 with 2:41 left.

But Greece finally woke up. Zisis and Panagiotis Vasilopoulos both made two foul shots followed by one free throw by Lakovic for a 62-53 scoreline with 1:37 to go.

After a Slovenia turnover, Papaloukas scored a driving lay-up but failed to convert the three-point play. Another Slovenia turnover ended in Papaloukas draining a three-pointer. And after yet another turnover, Zisis buried his only three-point attempt of the game to trim the deficit to 62-61.

Domen Lorbek stepped up for his team but missed a three-pointer with 16 seconds remaining to give Greece a final chance to finish the run and Papaloukas proved once again why he's widely considered the best player in Europe, cutting into the heart of the Slovenian defense for the winner.

Greece

Coach Panagiotis Yannakis: "If anybody has any heart problem, and this game was difficult for him we would like to apologize."

"Basketball is a game until the last second. Slovenia played very good and smart. They were better for most of the game, but my team didn't lose the courage and spirit of trying until the last second, like we do in the last three years."

"We didn't play our game, because we have big pressure, which makes us slow in offense, and we don't make the other defense work."

"We won an unbelievable game. I want to thank everybody but most importantly to the players. They have great-great personality. There's great love in the team, and I think this is the reason we won this game."

"Tomorrow we have semi-finals, and it's going to be very difficult because we played the last game today, but we'll fight with 12 players, and today we showed we have 12 players. If Spain won't score many easy baskets, maybe we can give them a problem."

Guard Nikos Zisis: "I don't know what I can say about this game. I'm proud of my team. Like you all saw, we didn't play our best game, but for sure this time shoed in the last 3-4 years that we have character and heart."

"We went to the finals with an unbelievable comeback in the last seconds. I had that in my mind in the last minutes here. Papaloukas made some unbelievable baskets like he did two years ago. Once more we showed the game is not over until the 40:00 are over."

"Spain is a great team. We need to rest and play with our hearts out tomorrow. This time has the psychology not to give up. When you've done this in the past so many times, the opponent is still afraid until the last minute."

Slovenia

Coach Ales Pipan: "We can't give up now. We have to win at least one game to reach our goal."

"We controlled the game for 37 minutes and played very good on both ends but in the last three minutes I don't know what happened on the court. We made mistakes and lost some balls."

"Greece is a big team, and we lost a crazy game. We already had a meeting in the locker room and I told my players that we'll have to beat Germany. It'll be very difficult for us, because of this life, but this is life and basketball. We have to play tomorrow like it's a normal game. I told my players in the last time out to play tough defense and switch everything on the screens."

Center Rasho Nesterovic: "Congratulations to Greece. I wish them all the best in the semi-finals. We let the game go and we have to recover towards the game tomorrow against Germany to be in the Olympics qualifications."

Slovenia must do something for the first time at EuroBasket 2007 today when they take on Greece if they are to stay on track for a medal, bounce back from a defeat.

Ales Pipan’s team put up a terrific fight against Lithuania on Wednesday before fading in the second half and settling for second place in Qualifying Round Group F.

So, despite reaching the quarter-finals with just one loss, Slovenia must take on one of the real powerhouses in the game, the EuroBasket 2005 gold medalists, to stay alive in the competition.

“Greece are still the champions,” Pipan said. “We played two friendly games (this summer) against them but they mean nothing.”

		Diamantidis has been a spark on offense in Greece's last two game

The Greeks finished third in Qualifying Round Group E behind Spain and Russia.

They accomplished this by bouncing back from a heavy loss against the Spanish with a buzzer-beating win against Croatia and a triumph over pesky Portugal.

Last Time Out: Slovenia lost to Lithuania, 81-60. Greece beat Portugal 85-67.

Key Match-up: Goran Dragic v Dimitris Diamantidis. Diamantidis has no equals in Europe when it comes to defense and, in the last two games on offense, he has started to assert himself which makes him a more complete player. And that is good news for Greece, who are missing Antonis Fotsis this summer because of a broken finger, and with Theodoros Papaloukas not in the best of form. Dragic is not polished offensively, yet, but his ball-hawking skills have led to numerous steals in this EuroBasket and he could be very disruptive against the Greeks.

Key Statistics: Slovenia lost to Lithuania because they were killed on the boards, losing that battle 44-22. The Greeks rebound as well as any team so Erazem Lorbek, Rasho Nesterovic, Matjaz Smodis and Uros Slokar will find it very difficult.

X-Factor: Michail Kakiouzis. The Greek captain has had a reduced role with coach Panagiotis Yannakis preferring to use Michalis Pelekanos at small forward, and using Kakiouzis as a reserve at power forward. But Pelekanos hurt his ankle in the Portugal game and that means Yannakis must use Kakiouzis at number three again. The injury to Pelekanos may be a blessing in disguise because Kakiouzis is what one Greek journalist called “the brains of the Greek team”. The team certainly looked re-energized and better when he appeared against Portugal and made four of five shots, scoring eight points.

Speaking Out: “We were big underdogs coming into this competition overall, but I think that we showed we can play good basketball, solid basketball and we can play with all the big teams. We have a lack of depth, but we try to make up for that and play aggressively. It’s going be a big challenge to beat Greece, the last EuroBasket champs, but maybe we can do it.” – Slovenia's Matjaz Smodis.