France become fifth European team to qualify for World Cup after beating Czech Republic

PARDUBICE (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - France became the fifth European team to book their ticket to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 by knocking off Czech Republic 79-65 on the road in the European Qualifiers.

Amath M'Baye paced Les Bleus with 18 points and Paul Lacombe added 15 points as the visitors scored the final 18 points of the game in Pardubice to join the Czechs, Germany, Greece and Lithuania as the teams with guaranteed spots for next summer's 32-team showpiece event.

France will play in their fourth straight World Cup and would love to return to the podium after finishing third at Spain 2014.

Vincent Collet’s side now has sole possession of first place in Group K with an 8-1 record while the Czechs dropped to 7-2 despite Vojtech Hruban picking up 20 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

Turning point: Neither team had led by more than 8 points throughout the game, and the Czechs were up 65-61 before they fell apart. It was 66-65 for France with 3 minutes left when M'Baye made a layup. On the next French possession, he was fouled and made the first free throw. Mathias Lessort grabbed the offensive rebound on the missed second foul shot and passed to M'Baye, who nailed a three-pointer to make it 72-65 with just over 2 minutes. That proved the breaking point for the Czechs.

Game hero: M'Baye was strong all game in his France national team debut with 18 points, hitting 6/9 shots including all 3 of his three-pointers, to go with 5 assists and 2 rebounds.

Stats don't lie: France turned the ball over just 11 times compared to 16 for the Czechs. The French also made 15 of 20 free throws while Czech Republic went just 2 of 4 from the charity stripe.

Bottom line: Now that the main goal of qualifying for China 2019 is accomplished, the French can now worry about finishing the campaign in first place in Group K - which would improved their seeding for the draw for next summer’s global spectacle. France next host Bulgaria on Monday in Limoges while the Czechs look to rebound but must head to Moscow Region and beat Russia.

They said: "I think the score doesn't show how tough this game was. We started a little bit too much offensively but after that we started to play better defense and we controlled the game quite well in the first half. We should have had a bit more of a lead. But in the third quarter it was very difficult. They were more aggressive and we hard a very hard time but we didn’t give up. We stayed in the game with our defense. In the fourth quarter, when we thought it would be a one possession game, we made a real difference in the last 3-4 minutes with very good defensive stops. We had a few blocks in a row, we didn't give anything to Czech Republic and we got good baskets with (Axel) Bouteille, Amath (M'Baye) and (Mathias) Lessort and we won by 14. But we know it was a much closer game. I'm really happy with the commitment of the team, the unselfish way in which we played. We had 28 assists, which is something really amazing on the road. It says a lot about the spirit we have." - France head coach Vincent Collet

"It was my first game with the team so obviously I was really excited and anxious to get started. I was really happy to get the confidence from the staff and the general manager to be here. So it was a real pleasure to be here. I think we have a very good group, very unselfish, very hard working so it was really easy to play with these guys. We all work so hard that it makes everything easier. I think the game tonight reflected that." - France forward Amath M'Baye

"Like Pavel Pumprla said, I think the result is a bit fake. The game should have finished maybe with us up 2 or them up 4 or 6, but not 12-14. We played 36-37 minutes great. I think with the problem of Pavel on defense and on offense, they put more fresh players because they have more variety of players and they stopped us at the end of the game. But we showed character. Everybody all the time talk about Tomas (Satoransky), Jan (Vesely) and Ondrej Balvin but we showed in all games that we have a good bunch of players, with good character. It was great that the fans appreciate this and came to the game to cheer them on. It shows that all the time it's emotional to play for the national team. We've qualified for the World Cup so we've done our job but still we want to compete well. We have a tough game in Russia, for sure they'll fight to qualify as well." - Czech Republic head coach Ronen Ginzburg

"It was a good game from our side, most of the game at least but then we got a great lesson about what can happen in two minutes at this level. If you stop or you're out of power for whatever reason, you just don't play as you did before and in two minutes the game is lost. We were up four points and then down 14 in literally 3-4 minutes. It's not really fair for how we played most of the game but that's how these games go. It's a lesson for us. It's great that this loss doesn't mean too much for us but now we have the next game. I hope we put up a good fight for the fans. We appreciate that so many of them came to this game, during the season with the biggest stars not being here. It's a great message that what we did a couple of months ago by advancing to China really means a lot to Czech basketball. I still see a lot of positives and let's see how we do in Russia. We can always take it as a preparation for the tough games we'll for sure have at the World Cup." - Czech Republic forward Pavel Pumprla

FIBA