Spain hold France 66-59 to earn a semifinal spot against Russia – Olympics Men Basketball Recap
The Spanish men basketball team moved one step closer to an anticipated gold medal game clash with team U.S.A when they defeated France in a toughly contested quarter final of the basketball competition here at the London Olympics.
The Spaniards held France to just 6 points in the final period, scoring 15 themselves to take a 66-59 victory in the low scoring thriller.
Marc Gasol led the Spaniards with 14 points and 8 rebounds for the night, going 4 of 8 from the field and 5 of 6 from the foul line. Juan Carlos Navarro finished off with 12 points and 6 rebounds while Pau Gasol had 10 points and
11 rebounds for the game.
Tony Parker led the French side with 15 points and 6 rebounds, but was 6 of 20 from the field. Boris Diaw also had 15 points on the night, to go with 8 rebound and 5 assists.
The first quarter involved a battle for the lead between the two teams, but France eventually pulled away when Diaw scored a three pointer and Kevin Seraphin followed with a two point shot to give France a 12-7 advantage with five
minutes left in the period.
Spain kept pegging back though, and a two point shot by Pau had them trailing 13-16 with 2:21 left in the period. But, France held on to the lead to close the quarter with a 22-17 advantage.
Spain came back in the second period with back to back two pointers by Rudy Fernandez to cut the deficit to 25-29, and a free throw by Fernandez with 1:23 left in the first half had Spain within three at 32-35. France, however,
again held on to the lead and took a 37-34 margin into the half time break.
Spain took over the game early in the second half and younger Gasol gave the Spaniards the lead with a free throw in the early goings of the third period. He followed it with a three point shot to put Spain ahead 41-37.
France rallied back though and two free throws by Tony Parker tied the game at 43. A three point shot by Diaw then put France ahead by 1 with 2:48 left in the third quarter. Parker followed it with another three-pointer as France
extended their lead to 4, however Navarro was able to score two free throws before the end of the quarter to have Spain trailing by just 51-53 with one quarter to go.
Sergio Llull put Spain ahead 58-57 with a two point shot and 5:35 left in the game, after which no team scored a point for the next four minutes. During that span, tempers flared and both teams put their best on the floor.
Leading by 1, Spain eventually overcame the cold shooting spell and went on an 8-0 run to decide the fate of the game. France scored the final field goal of the game to lose 66-59 after a hard fought battle.
Both teams struggled from the floor, with France going 33.8% for the night and Spain shooting 37.5 percent. Spain had a 45-38 advantage in rebounds, and took 29 free throws as compared to only 12 by France. They will now meet Russia
in the semifinal.
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