The first game of the men's Olympic basketball semifinals will feature Russia taking on Spain at 12:00 noon ET.
Russia arrived to the semis after beating Lithuania in the quarterfinal round 83-74.Andrei Kirilenko scored 19 points and Timofey Mozgov added 17 points.
After trailing by 14, Lithuania was within six in the fourth when Monya, who played for both Portland and Sacramento, hit a 3-pointer for Russia, and Kirilenko, who signed a two-year, $20 million contract with Minnesota this summer, converted a three-point play with 1:42 remaining.
Lithuania was still within five in the final minute. But a bad turnover and two missed free throws helped Russia go on a game-ending 6-0 run.
Rimantas Kaukenas scored 19 and Darius Songaila15 for Lithuania
Russia won its group in the preliminary round, beating medal favorites Brazil and Spain in the process. Those tight wins gained the Russians a few believers, but most international hoop experts didn't think they belonged in the same company with the Americans, Argentina, Spain, France or Brazil.
With size and depth, the Russians, who have never won an Olympic medal in basketball as an independent nation, will be a handful for Spain.
Spain made it to the semifinal round after they defeated Tony Parker and his France team.
Brothers Pau and Marc Gasol dominated under the basket and Spain held France scoreless for nearly seven minutes in a 66-59 win.
"We still have to find our flow, we still have to find our best game offensively. But I like the way we were competing today," said Pau Gasol, the Los Angeles Lakers center. "France made things very difficult for us, it could have gone either way."
