Andrei Kirilenko of the Utah Jazz scored 29 points Friday to lead Russia to a 95-80 victory over defending champion Serbia and Montenegro at the European Championships in Sweden. It was the biggest upset of the day.

	Kirilenko

Vasili Karassev added 16 points and Fedor Licholitov 14 as the Russians built a two-point lead at the half and held a 69-62 advantage after three quarters in Sodertalje.

Kirilenko, who had 10 rebounds, shot 64 percent from the field for Russia, which finished 10th at the World Championships last year.

"Russia deserved to win the game," said Serbia and Montenegro coach Dusko Vujosevic. "We lacked patience. The Russians are not famous for shooting so well from the outside. But tonight, they shot really, really well."

The defending champs were missing some key players, including Vlade Divac of the Sacramento Kings.

Predrag Drobnjak of the Seattle Supersonics scored 18 points to lead Serbia and Montenegro in the Group C game. Sacramento's Peja Stojakovic scored 17 points.

In the other Group C game, Pau Gasol, the 2001-02 NBA Rookie of the Year with the Memphis Grizzlies, scored 25 points as Spain routed Sweden 99-52.

In a Group A game in Lulea, the French team, led by Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs, began its quest for its first European title by defeating Bosnia-Herzegovina 98-76 another opening upset of one of the favorites.

Playing at the northernmost venue ever in a major international competition, just south of the Arctic Circle, France -- the 2002 Olympic silver medalist -- took a seven-point lead into the second quarter and never trailed thereafter.

Parker, the first Frenchman to win an NBA title, finished with 11 points. Laurent Foirest, a forward who plays with Vitoria in the Spanish League, led France with 19 points.

Two other French NBA players, Jerome Moiso of the Toronto Raptors and Tariq Abdul-Wahad of the Dallas Mavericks, scored 15 and 7 points, respectively.

In the other Group A game, Bostjan Nachbar of the Houston Rockets scored 21 points to lead Slovenia to a 77-67 win over Italy. Gianluca Basile led Italy with 16 points.

In Group D action at Boras, Mehmet Okur of the Detroit Pistons had 19 points to lead 2001 European runner-up Turkey to a 77-69 victory over Ukraine. Sacramento's Hidayet Turkoglu finished with 11 points.

Greece, which won its only European crown in 1987, edged Croatia 77-76 behind 14 points from Nikolaos Chatzivrettas and 12 from Efthimios Rentzias in the other Group D game.

In a Group B game at Norrkoping, Germany got double-figure scoring from five players and beat Israel 86-82.

Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks scored 17 points and received plenty of help from Ademola Okulaja (17 points) and Patrick Femerling (16).

German coach Henrik Dettman, however, was not pleased with his team's effort.

"We played unconcentrated and sloppy," Dettman said. "Especially on defense."

Israel's Meir Tapiro led all scorers with 21. There were 53 fouls called in the game, 29 on Israel.

In the other Group B game, Lithuania survived a fierce struggle against Latvia, beating its Baltic neighbor 92-91 in overtime.

Latvia led for most of the game and had a chance to win it in regulation. But Ainars Bagatskis' jumper rimmed out, and Edgars Sneps failed to put in the rebound at the buzzer.

In overtime, Sarunas Jasikevicius hit two free throws with 3.9 seconds left. Latvia then had a last chance to win, but Kristaps Valters missed a running layup.

Arvydas Macijauskas led Lithuania with 22 points.

The top team from each of the four first-round groups advances to the quarterfinals. The second and third-placed teams play an elimination game to determine which team advances to the quarters.

All games from the quarterfinal stage will be played in the 14,000-seat Globe Arena in Stockholm, where Magic Johnson drew a sellout crowd during his brief stint in the Swedish league in the late 1990s.

The top three finishers aside from Serbia and Montenegro qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympics. Serbia and Montenegro (defending world champion) and Greece (host nation) earned automatic berths.