SAITAMA -- Serbia and Montenegro's reign as basketball world champion is over.
Pau Gasol of Spain shoots a free throw in a FIBA World Championship second-round game against Serbia and Montenegro on Saturday at Saitama Super Arena. Spain won 87-75.
AP PHOTOSpain dropped the gauntlet on its foe's ambition to three-peat, pulling off an 87-75 victory in the second round of the FIBA World Championship at Saitama Super Arena.
Pepu Hernandez's team did it the old-fashioned way: with blue-collar tenacity and dazzling efficiency in all facets of the game.
Spain has now won 15 straight games in international competition.
"None of them were thinking that we have been doing something good," said Hernandez, downplaying the hot stretch. "The team is keeping its head on its shoulders and . . . they know that each game is hard.
"The team knows that we can (win the tournament) but there are two or three more teams that want the same prize that we're looking for. The right pressure makes you move and work harder every day."
Spain shot 55 percent from the field (27-for-58). What's more, it was an across-the-board display of dominance. Seven Spaniards made more than half of their shots.
Pau Gasol, the Memphis Grizzlies star, paced the team with 19 points, Rudy Fernandez had 18, Jose Calderon 13 and Marc Gasol nine.
Spain's take-it-to-the-hole mentality was also critical. It attempted 26 foul shots to its opponent's 12.
Serbia and Montenegro, which competed at the 2002 World Championship in Indianapolis under the Yugoslavian flag, got off to a slow start and never led. It held a share of the lead just once (2-2).
Serbia and Montenegro coach Dragan Sakota's young squad did not have a realistic shot at defending its title. It had 11 players making their world championship debut.
"We need experience and will get it with a few older players . . . today they were probably too strong for us and we had a lot of players with young experience."
He added: "This is a great experience for them."
Spain's quest for the world title continues on Tuesday when it meets Lithuania in a quarterfinal clash at 7:30 p.m. In the 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal contest, heavily favored Argentina meets Turkey.
The reigning champs, who captured the 1998 crown in Athens, trailed 66-52 entering the fourth quarter. For Sakota's club, back-to-back missed layups proved to be costly early in the final period.
Fernandez's spot-up 3-pointer put Serbia and Montenegro in an 80-58 hole with 5:18 left, which was enough time to sip a cup of tea in the nearby food court, but not enough time to overcome a giant deficit against these Western European heavyweights.
Spain looked sharp at the outset, jumping out to a 9-2 lead on Carlos Jimenez's easy deuce at the 6:26 mark. Pau Gasol, a 215-cm center, powered inside for a layin, drew the foul and knocked in the foul shot during the quick, game-opening spurt.
Calderon, a terrific point guard who plays for the Toronto Raptors, drilled consecutive jumpers, the first of the 3-point variety, to put Serbia and Montenegro in an early 13-4 hole.
Calderon netted a suave 10 points in the first period and his team led 20-10.
In the second stanza, the Spaniards delivered a rhythmic rhapsody on the hardwood for fans that traveled halfway around the world to excitedly chant "Espana, Espana!"
Spain forced a fast tempo when it wanted to and slowed it down for halfcourt sets with equal proficiency.
As a result, the Spaniards, playing to their strengths, led 30-14 after Carlos Cabezas made a steal and hit 1 of 2 foul shots on the other end.
Serbia and Montenegro crept back into the game. Marko Marinovic's jaw-dropping reverse layup cut it to 36-20. Teammates Darko Milicic (18 points) and Miroslav Raicevic, relentless inside tacticians keyed their team's comeback, scoring on consecutive stickbacks. That made it 32-24, Spain.
Moments later, Spain's lead dipped to seven. But the team's knack for picking it up a notch time after time proved to be the key ingredient.
Spain wrapped up its first half with this momentum-boosting stretch: Pau Gasol's rim-rattling alley-oop and, then with 1.8 second left, Calderon's three free throws. That pushed the margin to 43-31.
Pau Gasol had 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots by halftime.
NOTEWORTHY: Longtime NBA official Eddie Rush worked the game.
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