France survive another overtime thriller to stay in title race

BERLIN (Germany) - France put their faithful through another nailbiter but survived in overtime 93-85 over Italy to reach the Semi-Finals of the FIBA EuroBasket 2022.

The 2013 European champions fended off a spirted Italian team that was looking for another upset after shocking Serbia in the Round of 16. Vincent Collet's team became only the second team having multiple elimination games going to overtime in a single EuroBasket tournament - Turkey also two games in 2001. 

 
Turning Point: France started hot from the outside and used three-pointers to take a10-point lead in the first quarter and led 27-20 after 10 minutes. The cushion grew to 11 points in the second frame and the score was 38-31 at the break. France still were ahead by 10 points in the third only to see the Italians mount a 19-3 run spanning the final two quarters to take a 64-56 lead. France edged closer and closer and trailed by two points when Italy's Simone Fontecchio missed two free throws with 16.3 seconds left. Thomas Heurtel raced down to knot the game at 77-77 and force overtime. France were able to score more efficiently in the extra session to pull off the win.

TCL Player of the Game: France had a number of heroes but Thomas Heurtel took home the honors with 20 points and 8 assists. He now has a total of 84 assists in the EuroBasket, the third most of any French player in the competition. Tony Parker leads the list with 228 and Boris Diaw is second with 190.

 
Stats Don't Lie: France drained 13 three-pointers after having averaged 7.8 made threes per game coming into the contest. The French also held Italy to just 44.0 percent on two-pointers.

Bottom Line: After a blip in 2017 when they finished 12th, France find themselves back in the Semi-Finals for the fourth time in the last five editions - grabbing second place in 2011, winning the title in 2013 and finishing third in 2015. France's foe in the Semi-Finals will be either reigning champions Slovenia or Poland, who were playing the last Quarter-Finals later Wednesday.

They Said: "This was not the same kind of game as Saturday. Down two and your opponent has two free throws with a few seconds to go. It was a miracle. Tonight we did the comeback before the last seconds. We were courageous. We made too many mistakes, sometimes we help our opponent. But something you cannot take away from my team is determination. We never stop. Even in bad situations we still fight." - France coach Vincent Collet

"Today is different than the game against Turkey. I think today we showed more character than the game against Turkey. In the overtime I think we played great basketball, organized basketball. And I think we played great in the end." - Thomas Heurtel, France

"Really proud of my players. You cannot imagine it. You saw the game. Everybody saw the game. Congratulations to France. They never gave up. I love my players. I can stop coaching tomorrow or right now and my life doesn't change. What they did, what they showed in this tournament is something amazing. They fought from the first day in every practice to achieve their goals. And everybody has to respect this. How they give 100 percent, everybody has to give 100 percent. I'm suffering for them. I'm suffering, really. Not for me. I am really proud of them. They showed the best basketball in EuroBasket."

"I dont know a lot about life but I do know that people only get passionate about a sport when they see emotions from the players on the field, and these 12 guys have made our country, a country that is basically footballphile, to feel emotional in this EuroBasket." - Italy coach Gianmarco Pozzecco

"A big chance for us, but we are hurt again - for a fourth time we couldn't go through the Quarter-Finals. I know very well what this means. But when we get some distance we will feel proud of ourselves. We showed that we can compete with France and Serbia - the best teams in the world - with a lack of size. This means effort for 40 minutes which maybe you pay for at the end. Very painful of course. Very, very painful but also very proud of my teammates. I feel so lucky that I play with these guys." - Luigi Datome, Italy 

 
FIBA