Chavdar Kostov scored 12 of his 18 points in a 22-3 fourth quarter run as Bulgaria beat Croatia 88-70 to collect their first victory in Group F of the U20 European Championship Men.

Ivan Lilov scored a game-high 25 points and his older brother Lyubomir Lilov and Stoyo Cholakov each had 12 points and Nikolay Kolev chipped in with 10 for Bulgaria, who improved to 1-3.

Croatia, who fell to 0-4, were led by 19 points and 12 rebounds from Ante Tomic while Franko Filipovic scored 12 points.

Bulgaria led 23-16 after the first quarter and opened a 12-point lead in the second before Croatia closed to within one point with a 9-0 run.

Ivan Chokalov's Bulgarians led 43-40 at half-time. Croatia fought ahead in third and led 59-57 going into the fourth.

Goran Caktas's team were ahead 67-66 with 4:55 to play before Kostov took over, hitting two three-pointer and 12 points total as Bulgaria closed off the game on a 22-3 run.

Bulgaria will try to improve to 2-3 in the group against Israel on Thursday while Croatia hope to collect their first victory against Georgia.