The Spaniards, who won their first Eurobasket title in 2009, will play either France or 2007 winners Russia who clashed in the second semis later on Friday.
Macedonia entered the 24-team tournament in Lithuania, which is also an Olympic qualifying event, as one of the underdogs but their first-half performance against the Spaniards showed their 7-2 record en route to the semis was no fluke.
Led by center Pero Antic and American-born point guard Lester Bo McCalebb, the Macedonians overcame a 26-18 first quarter deficit to lead 45-44 at halftime, having shown a variety of attacking options.
Their hopes of producing yet another shock were dashed in the third quarter when Spain’s magnificent point guard Juan Carlos Navarro scored 19 points, including a pair of successive off-balance three pointers.
Spain led 71-62 at the end of the third quarter and maintained their lead throughout the final period, despite a valiant effort by Macedonia who are playing in only their third major tournament as an independent nation.
Navarro finished with a game-high 35 points, Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol scored 22 to go with 17 rebounds, while his younger brother Marc and Congolese-born forward Serge Ibaka chipped in with 11 points each.
McCalebb, the driving force behind Macedonia’s success in the tournament, scored 25 points for the former Yugoslav republic and Antic poured 17 to go with nine rebounds.
“We have reached our initial objective to qualify for the Olympics, in truth it was a tough match today and Macedonia have had a magnificent tournament,” Navarro told Spanish television.
“We are very pleased to have reached the final and I am delighted to have helped the team, there are opportunities that you can’t allow to escape and now we will go all out for the title,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, Greece beat Serbia 87-77 to book an Olympic qualifying berth after both teams were knocked out of the medal rounds on Thursday.
The winners and runners-up of Eurobasket 2011 will qualify automatically for next year’s Olympics along with hosts Britain, while the next four teams in line enter an inter-continental 12-team tournament for another three berths next year.
Three of those four are hosts Lithuania, Greece and Macedonia, while the fourth will be the loser of the other semi-final between France and Russia.
