France and Spain got in a fight during the third quarter in the FIBA World Cup quarterfinal game on Thursday.
The tussle started when Pau Gasol fouled a France player underneath the basket.
Florent Pietrus quickly came in and shoved Juan Navarro, drawing an unsportsmanlike foul.
Navarro walked away from Pietrus as the referees moved in to break up the fight.
The game has been getting increasingly intense as France stays close and has had the lead for a fair amount of the game.
Fouls against France have been questionable with one of the referees helping Spain players off the floor when they fall down and giving them high-fives on at least one other occasion.
The winner of the game will advance to the semifinals to face Serbia, which beat Brazil earlier today.
The winner of that game will advance to the final on Sunday to face the winner of Team USA and Lithuania.
See an Associated Press story below.
Serbia routs Brazil 84-56 to reach WCup semis
MADRID—Serbia blew away Brazil 84-56 to advance to the Basketball World Cup semifinals on Wednesday and avenge an eight-point loss in group play a week ago.
Spain or France will await in Madrid on Friday.
“We achieved something big today,” said Serbia coach Sasha Djordjevic, who added that he preferred to play Spain next. Serbia was beaten by Spain and France in the group phase.
“It’s not revenge. You have to play against the best team. We want to play and leave our mark.”
The United States will play Lithuania on Thursday in the other semifinal in Barcelona.
Brazil and its trio of NBA centers in Varejao, Tiago Splitter and Nene beat Serbia 81-73 last week but Serbia bettered the bigger Brazilians inside and out, and turned a five-point halftime advantage into a blowout by outscoring Brazil 29-10 in the third period.
Brazil didn’t help its cause when Splitter and Vieira earned consecutive technical fouls for protesting during that span.
Serbia was led by guard Milos Teodosic, who scored 23 points, hit three 3-pointers, and made four assists. Shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 12 points, and centers Miroslav Raduljica and Nenad Krstic added 10 each.
Varejao and Vieira had 12 points each for Brazil.
Teodosic had 16 points in the first 20 minutes to help keep Serbia in front through most of the first half, while Brazil’s starting backcourt of Marcelinho Huertas and Barbosa went scoreless.
Nene came off the bench for Brazil to score two dunks and fuel a 9-0 burst to grab a brief one-point lead in the second period. But Teodosic made three free throws after Alex Garcia fouled him behind the arc, Nemanja Bjelica hit a 3, and Krstic scored over Nene to send Serbia into halftime up 37-32.
With Serbia on another run, Brazil’s nerves frayed with 7:19 to play in the third when Varejao picked up his third personal foul. Splitter’s and Vieira’s protests earned them both technicals.
Raduljica made one of two free throws for Varejao’s foul. Teodosic made all four technicals before he assisted Stefan Markovic for a layup to complete the seven-point possession.
Teodosic then connected on a deep 3 before Krstic scored twice against Nene and made a long jumper as Serbia led 66-42 late in the third.
Brazil effectively collapsed after that.
The fourth quarter was played between bench players while Serbia celebrated and Brazil’s starters looked on glumly from the bench.
