LJUBLJANA, Slovenia -- A youthful Germany team missing Dirk Nowitzki got 19 points from Robin Benzing to earn an upset 80-74 win over France to start of the European championship on Wednesday. France, the runner-up two years ago, got 18 points from Tony Parker but faded as Benzing scored the last five points of the game for the second youngest team in the 24-nation tournament. "Nobody believed in us but we all believed. This is a great victory," Germany captain Heiko Schaffartzik said. Spain, which beat France in the final two years ago, limited Croatia to three points in the final quarter and began its bid for a third straight title with a crushing 68-40 victory. Marc Gasol had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Rudy Fernandez added 15 points, Jose Calderon had 13 and Ricky Rubio had seven assists to go with seven points as Spain dominated the Group C match in Celje, outscoring Croatia 19-3 in the fourth. When Calderon nailed a 3-pointer for a 47-29 lead in the third quarter, the game was decided and Spain cruised home. Spain is seeking to become the first team to win three consecutive European titles since Yugoslavia in the 1970s. The Spaniards are playing without stars Pau Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Juan Carlos Navarro. Bojan Bogdanovic had 12 points for Croatia. Serbia, the youngest team, beat Lithuania 63-56 behind 20 points from centre Nenad Krstic. Nemanja Nedovic added 14 in the Group B match. Russia, bronze medallist two years ago, also lost, going down 76-69 to Italy, which got 25 points from Luigi Datone. Host Slovenia eked out a 62-60 victory over the Czech Republic in Group C. Germany finished the first quarter of the Group A game with a 10-0 run to take a 27-14 lead and France did not lead until the start if the fourth quarter. Trailing by three, Germany pulled even on Luccas Steigers 3-pointer and the shooting guard made another one to put Germany ahead for good. Parker then scored with a layup but Benzing nailed a 3-pointer and made two free throws with 13 seconds left as Nicolas Batum missed two back-to-back 3-point attempts. "They made the big shots and deserved to win," Parker said. In Group B in Jesenice, Montenegro edged Macedonia, a semifinalist two years ago, 81-80, with American-born guard Tyrese Rice nailing two free throws with 10 seconds remaining. Bo McCalebb, another American-born guard, led Macedonia with 23 points but missed a layup to win the game. Rice and Suad Sehovic had 16 points each for Montenegro, which overcame the absence of its star big man Nikola Pekovic. Another American-born guard, Eugene Jeter, also played a key role in Ljubljana, converting a three-point play with three seconds remaining to give Ukraine a 58-57 win over Belgium in Group A. Jeter put in a layup, drew a foul and converted the free throw to finish with eight points. Ihor Zaytsev of Ukraine led all scorers with 16. "Were very fortunate the way the game turned out from the stand point of having scored only 26 points in first half," said Ukraines American coach Mike Fratello. Greece rolled past Sweden 79-51 in Group D. Earlier, Kyle Johnson scored 22 points and Kieron Achara added 18 with 13 rebounds to lead Britain to a 75-71 overtime upset victory over Israel in the first Group A match. Also, Finland got 12 points apiece from Petteri Koponen and Sasu Salin to stun Turkey 61-55 in Group D in Koper, while Latvia beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 86-75 in Group B and Georgia defeated Poland 84-67 in Group C. In Ljubljana, Israel took the lead for the first time in the third quarter but never managed to pull away. Andrew Lawrence made two free throws to send the game into overtime. A layup by Lawrence gave Britain a 73-71 lead with 16 seconds remaining in overtime. Afik Nissim, who led Israel with 17 points, then lost the ball and Andrew Sullivan sank two free throws to seal the victory. ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -- Ben Street and Joni Ortio continue to carry the Abbotsford Heat night in, night out. Ortio picked up his American Hockey League-leading 11th victory and Street scored his team-high 14th of the season in the Heats 5-2 win over the San Antonio Rampage Saturday night. Street is the reigning AHL player of the month and has 21 points in his last 14 games. Ortio, meanwhile, made 28 saves and was the games first star. "Were obviously very confident with Joni and hes very confident," said Heat head coach Troy Ward. "We feel if we are out of position, not in a proper posture that wed like to be in, defensively, we feel hes had our back. He had another strong performance. He had to make some critical saves at critical times." That included a five-on-three and a four-on-three. "I cant say enough about Joni," said Brett Olson, who had two assists on the night. "Hes been our backbone. Hes making saves when hes not supposed to make them and hes making saves when he should. So that helps, especially on the penalty kill. On the five-on-three he made a heck of an effort to get across but they made a nice play. But every other save hes made, some of them have been pretty miraculous." Though the Rampage did score two power play goals, the Heat were definite winners on special teams, going 2 for 3 Saturday and 5 for 11 over the weekend sweep of the Rampage. "Everyone is in sync right now," said Olson. Ortio gave his teammates credit as well, though. "It was huge killing off that four-on-three in the first period, with huge blocks from Street and (John) Ramage there," said the Finnish netminder. "We must have blocked like 20 something shots tonight and that makes my job a lot easier. Sometimes I havent got a clue where the puck goes." Mark Cundari scored the eventual winner and had an assist while Ben Hanowski, Markus Granlund and Max Reinhart also tallied for Abbotsford (19-6-2). John Matsumoto and Bobby Butler replied for San Antonio (10-12-2) while Dov Grumet-Morris made 21 saves. The Heat drew first blood with a power play goal at 8:42 of the first period. Cundaris point shot was stopped by Grumet-Morrris but Hanowski was there to jam the puck past the sprawling goalie for his ninth of the season.dddddddddddd The Rampage tied the game with a power-play goal of their own in the first period. While failing to get much in the way of chances on the two-man advantage, they scored just after the initial penalty expired. Denny Urban fed it down low to Joey Crabb at the side of the net, who quickly fed a cross-crease pass to Matsumoto at the far post. The Ottawa native waited for Ortio to go down before roofing the puck for his fifth goal of the campaign. Street put the Heat back on top with only 28 seconds to play in the second period after taking a chip pass from Max Reinhart in full stride and quickly firing the rolling puck past Grumet-Morris. "The difference this weekend was getting goals at critical times, and who better to get it than Ben Street," said Ward. "If you look at our team, and who looks like a real man out there, its Ben compared to the rest. His posture, his shift to shift consistency, and hes just as good with the puck as he is without it." Cundari gave the Heat a two-goal cushion with a one-timer from the point that beat Grumet-Morris through the five-hole. "They over-committed and Mark was able to step into it and put a good one on net," said Olson, who teed up the defencemans slap shot. "Josh Jooris did a great job screening in front - I dont think the goalie saw it. A good play off the face-off; Hanowskis been doing great on the draws on the left side." Butler beat Ortio top corner from the top of the circle with just over four minutes remaining to bring the Rampage within one goal. But then Granlund picked up his 10th of the season with 1:36 to play, extending his point streak to nine games and Reinhart added an empty netter for his fifth of the year. "We had a better emotional response to the game," said Ward. "At times I felt we were in control of the game and like any game at this level there were times we were not. We had better shift consistency; we didnt have a lot of holes. The even keeled-ness is one of their biggest strength as a team. Theyre never too high and never too low." cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys Ray Ban Outlet Michael Kors Outlet Michael Kors Sale Cheap Michael Kors ' ' '