BERLIN — France have sent their message for a showdown with Spain, having qualified for the EuroBasket championship game.
Gershon Jabusele scored 22 points as France defeated Poland 95-54 in the semi-finals of the European Championship on Friday.
“We just played basketball,” Yabusele said. “We were very good defensively and really aggressive. We made everything difficult for them.”
The 41-point margin is the largest ever for a EuroBasket medal round game played in the current tournament format, over 40 points in 1993 when Croatia defeated Greece and the Soviet Union defeated Poland in the 1993 Bronze Medal Game. recorded the victory of 1967 semi-final.
With Ellie Okobo Evan Fournier It was a rare easy match with 10 points each for France, who had a total of 11 points ahead of their opponents in the first seven games of the tournament. At the last minute by Turkey and Italy.
France coach Vincent Collet said: “We started the game with will and determination. ‘That made the difference.’
France’s next game is Spain, who beat hosts Germany 96-91 in another semi-final on Friday. The gold and bronze medal games are on Sunday.
It’s the fifth time in the past six EuroBaskets that Spain or France have won gold. The exception was her in 2017, when Slovenia dominated. It’s also a rematch of her EuroBasket final in 2011, when Spain defeated France.
“I’ve worked really hard to get to this position,” said the French center. Rudy Gobert, had six rebounds and three blocks. “There’s one more game to go. When I started preparing, my goal was to win the gold medal. Now I’m in a position to do that. So one more game.”
Playing for gold is the latest big opportunity for France, who won EuroBasket in 2013 to claim their last major crown. A silver medal at the postponed Tokyo Olympics contested in the summer of 2021.
All the stats on Friday showed French dominance. Shot 62% compared to her 32% in Poland. France had a 40-21 advantage in rebounding, a 22-9 advantage in point-off turnovers, and a 40-16 advantage in paint-ins.
“Like many games in this competition, it can go south or it can go north,” said Poland coach Igor Miličić. “This game has gone south.”
AJ Slaughter and Michal Michalak scored nine points each to lead Poland, who beat defending champions Slovenia 90-87 to reach the semifinals on Wednesday. It was his third defeat in the tournament for Poland, and all were heavy blows. The others lost in the group stage to Finland by 30 points and Serbia by 29 points.
“We salute France,” said Slaughter, the Kentucky-born guard who helped Western Kentucky overturn victory as the No. 12 seed in the 2008 and 2009 NCAA Tournaments. They put on a really good game…but we’re still holding our heads up.We still have a medal game on Sunday.We can come back and play with pride and leave with a medal.” Let’s see if
Spain 96, Germany 91
Germany took a 10-point lead late in the third quarter before Spain took over. Juancho Hernangomez With Spain turning a 77-70 deficit into an 83-77 lead, with 4:04 remaining, he scored 7 of his 13 points in a game-deciding run.
“I can’t find the words to congratulate the players,” said Spain coach Sergio Scagliolo. It’s built on basketball, defensive effort, a desire to push boundaries, and guts in the fourth quarter.”
It was Spain’s fifth consecutive victory in the tournament, the last four being by 10 points or less.
“Add intensity to the game and anything can happen.” Usman Galbarecorded a team-high seven assists in Spain.
And it was Brown’s highest-scoring game in the tournament, more than doubling his per-game average going into Friday. He was averaging 13.4 points in his first seven games for Spain.
Denise Schroeder Germany led all scorers with 30 points, but managed only two in the fourth quarter. Franz Wagner Andreas Obst each scored 15 goals for Germany. Daniel Theis Added 10.
“The energy was amazing,” Brown said. “I don’t think the crowd came out to play tonight. I felt great from the jumps. I felt like the guys felt great from the jumps too. A lot of guts from our side.”
Germany manager Gordy Herbert said it was important to lose momentum early in the fourth quarter.
“It was a tough five or six minutes,” said Herbert.
