France bounce back, beat Lithuania for bronze medal

MALAGA (Spain) - France rebounded from the disappointment of losing in the Semi-Finals of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 to beat Lithuania 66-58 and claim the bronze medal - the country's second straight podium finish.

 
Ilane Fibleuil paced France with 16 points while Noah Penda had 12 points and 6 rebounds and Alexandre Sarr chipped in 11 points,  4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks as France followed the silver medal from 2018 with bronze in Malaga.

"It's not the medal we were aiming for, but honestly it feels good. So it's great," said Fibleuil, who also had 4 rebounds and 3 steals in the win.

Ilane Fibleuil

"It's a very good day for me, for the players and the French federation. It’s a big medal. It's very, very important for us. I am very proud of my players and staff, very proud," said France coach Bernard Faure.

France fell behind 9-4 in the first 5 minutes but answered with a 12-0 run and led 18-14 after 10 minutes. The cushion was double digits for the first time at 28-18 and France went into the break ahead 35-25.

The French extended the advantage to 15 points midway through the third quarter and watched as Lithuania fought within eight points. The margin was 56-41 with 10 minutes to play, and France did not allow Lithuania any closer than 12 points until the final seconds.

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Serbia use late Australia turnovers to rally for fifth place

Mitar Bosnjakovic helped Serbia come back and win

Serbia rallied from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to knock off Australia 69-67 and secure fifth place.  Australia committed 11 turnovers in the last 8 minutes of the game and watched as Serbia finished the contest on a 15-3 run for the win. Mitar Bosnjakovic and Bogoljub Markovic both scored 14 points in the win.

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Vide wins scoring title, Slovenia finish first appearance in 7th

Slovenia secured seventh place in their first-ever appearance by defeating Poland 77-74. The Europeans had a battle the whole game with eight points being the biggest cushion for either side and there were 12 lead changes. Jan Vide paced all scorers with 22 points, which gave him an average of 20.1 points per game and the scoring title ahead of Japan's Yuto Kawashima, who had 19.1 points a game. Ian Jackson of the United States still had a highly unlikely chance to overtake Vide if he were to score 59 points against Spain in the Final. The U17 World Cup single game scoring record is 50 points by Dzanan Musa of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2016. 

Stat of the day

23 - As in the number of turnovers by Lithuania as the French defense was a nightmare for the Baltic side.

Highlight of the day

 Alexandre Sarr was fantastic all game - as this sequence shows.

Picture of the day

The bronze medal game was a lot about Ilane Fibleuil - and this is a dynamite picture.

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Other results

- Canada erased the disappointment of losing in the Round of 16 to grab ninth place by rolling past Egypt 92-70.
- Argentina paced by Juan Respaud's 17 points in 80-70 victory over New Zealand for 11th place.
- Dominican Republic finished 13th in Malaga by knocking off Japan 85-68.
- Mali finished the event on a high note with a 75-54 win over Lebanon for 15th place.

FIBA