FIBA EuroBasket Second Round Day 1 Review: France edges Turkey; Lithuania down Serbia
France 68 – Turkey 64
On Wednesday, France overcame a ferocious late rally in the fourth quarter and maintained their perfect run in the tournament with a 68-64 win against Turkey in their second round opener in the 2011 EuroBasket Qualifying Round.
The French were lead by San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, who racked up a game-high 20 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
France coach Vincent Collet said after the game.
"We are very happy to win this game because for us, it's a big step for the Quarter-Finals. One minute from the end, it could have changed. We had a 15-point lead at the beginning of fourth quarter but it was a surprising game
for both teams. Both teams were tired."
Hidayet Turkoglu was the top performer in Turkey’s line-up. He finished the game with 13 points and 8 boards and was pivotal in the late surge for the win.
Turkey headed out strongly in the game and reeled off 10-2 run in the preliminary five minutes of the game. Tony Parker and Nicolas Batum, the two NBA stars however lifted the momentum for the French team and brought down the deficit
to 12-14 at the end of the first quarter.
France carried their momentum in the second quarter and outplayed Turkey 19-13, leading the game by four points going into the halftime.
After dominating the Turks in the second frame, the French really let it rip in the third and scorched them with a 26 points blitz, constructing a huge 57-44 lead by the end of the period. Staring at a double digit hole entering
the fourth quarter, Turkey showed character and stood up in the last 10 minutes. They outscored France 17-6 in the first nine minutes of the frame and were within two (63-61) with 0:45 to go. However a spate of free throws from Parker ensured that France hung
on to the win.
Lithuania 100 – Serbia 90
Keyed by the bench players, hosts Lithuania overshadowed Serbia 100-90 at the Vilnius arena on the first day of the second group stage in the FIBA EuroBasket.
Lithuania’s three reserves Jonas Valanciunas, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Martynas Pocius netted 18, 14 and 13 points respectively, scoring almost half of the total points. Mantas Kalnietis did the remaining damage with a team-high
19 points and 7 assists.
On the other hand, Serbia relied mostly on its starters. They were led by their captain Nenad Krstic with a game-high 21 points and 4 boards.
After gathering 24-22 lead in the first quarter, Lithuania displayed a tremendous team performance before halftime and mounted up a comprehensive 10 points lead from where they never trailed. In fact, Lithuania’s lead was never
seriously threatened at all after halftime as the last two periods went in a tie 46-46 and the home team clinched a straightforward win.
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