Spain coach Mario Pesquera has blamed tiredness for his side's surprise 85-77 defeat to qualifiers Israel in the EuroBasket on Sunday.

The Spanish had already booked their place in the quarter-finals following Group D victories over hosts Serbia & Montenegro and Latvia, but Israel proved a step too far for Pesquera's team.

Felipe Reyes produced another excellent performance, scoring 20 points and pulling down nine rebounds, while Jorge Garbajosa followed up the 31 points he scored against Latvia with another 21.

		Juan Carlos Navarro

However, the overtime win against the Latvians 24 hours earlier appeared to have taken its toll on some of Spain's players, with Juan Carlos Navarro only able to score nine points against Israel in stark contrast to the 35 he had netted against the Baltic nation.

"It is our worst game since we began our preparation for the competition," admitted Pesquera.

"We played very badly, especially in the first half, because it is not usual to only score 29 points in two quarters. We improved in the second half, but if you don't score points, then it is hard to win games," he added, before trying to explain the dip in form.

"The fact is that the team is tired because we played a lot of games in the warm-up and today we played at half past five, which isn't perfect because you hardly have a chance to relax. I don't want this to be an excuse, however," he said.

Pesquera's side will now be able to enjoy a short rest before resuming action in the EuroBasket.

Despite the defeat to Israel, Spain finished top of a tightly-contested Group D and will now face the winner of Tuesday's elimination game between Croatia and Italy in the last eight.