European champion Greece edged off France 73-56 to become the third team into the semi-finals of the World Men's Basketball Championships on Thursday here.

Greece is waiting for the winner of the following game between title favorites the United States and Germany.

Center Lazaros Papadopoulos and forward Antonis Fotsis had 14 points apiece and guard Vasilis Spanoulis contributed 11.

"We played good defence, and I'm happy that we are one of the best four teams in the world,"said Dimiris Diamantidis, who had 13 points and eight rebounds for Greece. "Now we might meet the United States next round. That's not something to be happy with."

France was held to 33 percent on the field goals, 14-42, with Michael Gelabale the only French who had double-figure scoring by 12 points.

"We played with discipline and patience. This game showed we can control the game and it's very important win for us. I want to congratulate my players because they put the team on top of the egoes of themselves. They help each other and let the team go up step by step," said Greek coach Panagiotis Yannakis.

After near three minutes without a basket for either side, Gelabale had the first goal with a layup, the only lead for France in the whole game.

The first quarter witnessed a 12-8 scoreline for the Greeks, who defeated France twice in the European championships, and 34-24 after the break.

"We had never started the game like today. We wasted too much time to find our rhythm and to get excited, but we had never really got into the match," French guard coach Aymeric Jeanneau said.

French coach Claude Bergeaud seemed anger with his players.

"My players were not confident with themselves. Some players didn 't move much during the game. That's a surprise for me to see my players collapsed under such pressures. I don't know why," Bergeaud said.

Source: Xinhua