Joel Ayayi was their star man with 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Their opponents in the semi-finals will be Mali, who won their quarter-final against Puerto Rico 84-74.

Six-times winners United States earned a 95-80 win over Russia, whose previous best in this competition was a bronze medal in 2011.

The US will meet Lithuania, the 2011 champions, who secured a 92-85 victory over 2007 champions Serbia.

Among those watching the action in Greek city Heraklion was FIBA President Horacio Muratore, who spoke of the development of youth basketball around the world and also gave his expectations for the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup in China.

“I have always thought that supporting youth development is the most important thing and watching all these talents develop fills me with satisfaction,” he said.

“Now, as President of FIBA, I think these events are the only opportunity to really grow our sport, increasing the number of youth events on all continents.

“The World Cups are the culmination of a series of events for young people and for us, the only way to grow the sport, like any other sport, is to have boys and girls who know how to handle the ball.”

On the expansion of this year’s World Cup, Muratore added: “It was very important to be more inclusive, that was our project.

“To grow from 24 to 32 teams has been amazing, having eight more federations play at the World Cup.

“The bar has been set very high in China and we have already decided to open the tournament up to multiple host countries in the future.

“For this reason the next one will be in Japan, Philippines and Indonesia in 2023.

“Japan and Philippines are countries that can organise a World Cup by themselves but this event is getting bigger and bigger.”