ISTANBUL, Turkey, Sept. 9 (AP) -- Yugoslavia overcame poor shooting by Peja Stojakovic of the Sacramento Kings to beat Turkey 78-69 Sunday and win the European championships.

The Yugoslavs won all six of their games and captured the title for the eighth time. This was the best finish by Turkey in its basketball history.

Turkey, playing before a raucous home crowd, led 40-38 at halftime but could not hold off a Yugoslav team that placed five players in double figures. Dejan Bodiroga had 18 points for the winners.

Stojakovic shot 43 percent from the field and was 1-of-7 from 3-point range. But Vlado Scepanovic scored 13 second-half points for Yugoslavia, which trailed by seven points early in the game.

"Throughout the tournament Peja showed that he is a great player," Bodiroga said. "But we play as a team."

Both teams started the second half cold, with neither scoring for more than two minutes. Stojakovic ended the drought with his only three-pointer to put Yugoslavia up by a point.

Yugoslavia stretched its lead to eight early in the fourth quarter behind nine straight points from Scepanovic.

"It wasn't easy to control this game, but thanks to our defense we stayed in it," Yugoslav coach Svetislav Pesic said.

Turkey's Hidayet Turkoglu, who plays with Stojakovic in Sacramento, fouled out in the final minute with 13 points, shooting 27 percent.

"Overall, I'm very happy with our performance in this championship," Turkey coach Aydin Ors said. "We stayed with a very strong Yugoslavia team for more than three quarters."

Earlier, Spain beat Germany 99-90 for the bronze medal, with NBA prospect Pau Gasol scoring 31 points. Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki had 43 points for Germany.

Russia downed Olympic silver medalist France 78-73 for fifth place to earn a berth in next year's world championships