Milos Teodosic of Serbia takes a jumper during Wednesday's (Thursday in Manila) FIBA-World Basketball quarterfinals match in Istanbul, Turkey. The Serbians won, 92-89, to advance to the semifinals. (Photo courtesy of turkey2010.fiba.com)

Manila, Philippines — Milos Teodosic buried a huge three-pointer from the top of the key with three seconds to go to lift Serbia over the defending champions Spain, 92-89, in a pulsating conclusion of the first quarterfinal match of the 2010 FIBA-World Basketball Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.

With the count tied at 89-all and the game clock slowly ticking down, the 6-foot-5 Teodosic, who was named the Most Valuable Player in the 2009 Euroleague, pulled up from beyond the arc against the outstretched arms of Spanish forward Jorge Garbajosa, sinking his jumper as the Serbian national squad rejoiced and stormed onto the hard court in celebration of their huge victory.

"I think we played a very good game for 40 minutes. We knew that Spain has a group of great players," Teodosic said during the post-game interview. "We knew that if we could play tough and aggressive we could beat Spain. It’s very difficult to forget this game but we have to do it in order to prepare for the semi-finals in two days.”

The win pushed the Serbians into the semifinals of the World Basketball tournament — their first since 2002 — and will next face Turkey, who waylaid Slovenia in the only other match of the night, this Saturday (Sunday in Manila). The Spaniards, on the other hand, were relegated to the classification matches of the tournament against Slovenia this Friday (Saturday in Manila).

“It was a very tough game and the best one in Istanbul so far," said Serbia head coach Dusan Ivkovic. "We faced Spain last year (in the EuroBasket 2009 final) and we were blown out. But this time we played more aggressive basketball with better shooting."

The two teams traded three-pointers entering the final two minutes of the game, with Serbia ahead by two, 89-87, with still 1:25 remaining. The game then saw an offensive drought in the next minute, as the two squads missed on all three offensive possessions — two three-pointers for Serbia and a layup from Spanish guard Juan Carlos Navarro.

Navarro then made up for his previous boo-boo by feeding a cutting Marc Gasol for a two-handed slam that tied the count at 89-apiece, with 25 seconds to go in the match. Teodosic then dribbled from the top of the key to melt the clock before launching the game-winner to the delight of his teammates.

The Serbians got a big lift from their awesome three-point shooting against the defending champs, converting on 50 percent of their attempts (15-of-30) against Spain's 39 percent shooting (10-of-26).

Forwards Marko Keselj and Novica Velickovic led Serbia with 17 points apiece. Dusko Savanovic, Nemanja Bjelica, Nenad Krstic, and Teodosic chipped in 15, 14, 13, and 12 points respectively.

“It is the hardest thing to lose a game like this at the final buzzer," said Spain's head coach Sergio Scariolo, who commended the Serbians' vastly improved three-point shooting. "Right now it looks tougher but I am very proud of my players. We took bad shots and they ran with the ball and were accurate. We showed some very nice runs and we came back at the end but fell short.”

Former NBA star Juan Carlos Navarro spearheaded the Spaniards with 27 points in 30 minutes of play, while Garbajosa, Rudy Fernandez, and Gasol added 18, 15, and 13 markers, respectively.