The hosts put up an incredible fight - but Croatia won their second gold-medal in two years with a fantastic performance to take a 67-57 win.
Ivan Jukic couldn't contain his joy: "It's great, it's fantastic - it's the second time for me and it's just an amazing feeling."
Marko Arapovic, the youngest member of the team, said: "It's a weird feeling for me, something I never had before. I can't believe it. I'm so proud of my team-mates, so proud to be involved in this victory."
Head coach Ante Nazor praised his team's composure: "It's the end of two weeks away - the players were all exhausted, and nervous knowing that the gold medal is there. But we worked hard to stay controlled, to remember what we do to win."
5,500 fans packed the CEZ Arena in Pardubice and showed their appreciation for the home team with a standing ovation towards the end of the game. Despite falling short in the final, the Czech team have exceeded pre-tournament expectations and played a tremendous tournament.
Coach Petr Treml said afterwards: "I don't know what happened with our shooting today, but at least those shots were falling yesterday to give us the opportunity to play here today. I'm glad we didn't lose by 20 - we brought the game back to 6 points and we made it tough for them, they were nervous. But you saw, they are a great physical team with great shooting also. I'm proud of our performance though, and you could see in the second half, we were with them, we were on the same level."
Tournament MVP Mario Hezonja led his team with a double-double in the final, 21 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals. Karlo Zganec added a double-double himself (11 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists) and Domagoj Bosnjak had 8 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals in the success.