Pau Gasol overwhelmed titleholder France, scoring 40 points in an 80-75 overtime victory Thursday as Spain advanced to the final of the European basketball championship and into next year's Olympics.
Spain, champion in 2009 and 2011, will play the winner of Friday's semifinal between Serbia and Lithuania. The two finalists qualify automatically for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Gasol's 40 points were a personal record while playing for Spain and silenced the partisan crowd of 26,000. He also had 11 rebounds.