RIGA, Latvia — Georgia advanced to the quarterfinals at the EuroBasket tournament for the first time with a dominant 80-70 win against France on Sunday.
France was runner-up to Spain in the 2022 final but both teams failed to reach the quarterfinal stage this time. Georgia will face Finland, which knocked out Nikola Jokic’s Serbia side on Saturday.
Georgia’s players sprinted off the bench at the end of the round-of-16 match, hugging and jumping up and down as their fans banged drums and danced in the crowd in Riga, Latvia.
“Unbelievable. I’m really happy, congrats to my teammates, everyone, all our fans in Georgia and here,” Georgia veteran Giorgi Shermadini said. “France are amazing, but today we played better in defense and offense.”
Olympic silver medalist France made only six of its 36 three-pointer attempts for a paltry average of 17 per cent while Georgia scored from over half of its three-pointers and punished France for frequently fouling by scoring 20 of 24 free throws.
Georgia led by one point at halftime and by nine early into the fourth quarter, with Barcelona forward Tornike Shengelia’s blend of athleticism and raw power pressuring France’s inexperienced defense.
France’s scrappy offence failed to get Guerschon Yabusele — who scored 36 points against Poland during the group stage — into enough open play and he was too often pushed out wide.
Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 NBA draft pick last year, found some form as France dragged itself back into the game and, with three minutes left, the score was 68-68.
But France’s wastefulness from three-pointers ultimately proved costly as Les Bleus could not get on a run.
Shengelia was inspirational for Georgia with 24 points and eight rebounds, while American-born Kamar Baldwin also scored 24 for Georgia, which beat Spain during the group stage.
“We never stopped fighting, believing,” Shengelia said. “I want to thank the people who came this far to Riga to support us, we felt the extra energy.”
Point guard Sylvain Francisco top-scored with 14 points for France. Yabusele was restricted to 12 points and Risacher mustered only seven.
France coach Frédéric Fauthoux was without NBA star Victor Wembanyama — who has been dealing with deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder — and key veterans like Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier.
Ultimately, Wembanyama’s absence combined with a new coach and new players proved too much.
Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Dončić scored 42 points and had 10 rebounds as Slovenia held off a fourth-quarter surge from Italy to win 84-77 and set up a quarterfinal match against World Cup winner Germany.
Slovenia led 29-11 at the end of the first quarter and Dončić reached 30 points by halftime — the fourth time this tournament that the star has scored at least 30 points in a game.
But Italy staged a stunning comeback and moved within one point of Slovenia with just under two minutes left.
Typically, the ice-cool Dončić then twice made both of his free throws to pass 40 points and keep Italy out of reach.
Shooting guard Jordan Loyd scored 28 points and forward Mateusz Ponitka had 19 points and 11 rebounds as Poland beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 80-72 to set up a quarterfinal against Turkey.
Utah Jazz centre Jusuf Nurkić again led Bosnia and Herzegovina with 20 points and seven rebounds.
In the last round-of-16 match, Greece — which eliminated defending champion Spain in the group stage — beat Israel 84-79 to set up a quarterfinal match against three-time champion Lithuania.
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo put in another dominating performance with 37 points and 10 rebounds.
The quarterfinals will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The final is next Sunday.
