Methodical France trumps Turkey to face Canada in FIBA OQT Final

Turkey vs France in the FIBA OQT Manila semifinal. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Disciplined and under control, France pounded Turkey, 75-63, in a tour-de-force performance to make the final of the Fiba Olympic qualifying tournament in Manila Saturday night at Mall of Asia Arena.

The French found themselves down by double digits early for the third consecutive game but they never panicked and methodically made their rally to take the lead in a snap.

“We’re really happy to win this game. We’re now able to make the last game to qualify for Rio and it was a tough game,” said France captain Boris Diaw.

“But once again, we didn’t start the game the right way. Of course we give credit to the Turkish team,” Diaw said after France again needed to recover from another slow start to win. “They played really good together and they gave us trouble in the first minutes of the game but we’re still not satisfied in what we did and how we started the game.”

The Turks played big using their two 7-footers Omer Asik and Semih Erden at the same time and it worked to their advantage at first before the French countered by spacing the floor and with their quickness.

Guards Nando de Colo and Thomas Heurtel ran circles around the taller but slower Turkey all game. De Colo kickstarted France’s rally before Heurtel delivered the finishing touches.

De Colo finished with 13 points while Heurtel was instrumental in France’s strong fourth quarter where he scored 12 of his team-high 17 points off the bench.

“It’s the first time in the tournament that we played Asik and Erden together. We were successful with this strategy,” said Turkey coach Ergin Ataman.

“But in the most important part of the game, the two guards Heurtel and Nando de Colo made the difference.”

There was a crucial stretch in the game where Heurtel, who plays backup to star point guard Tony Parker, accounted for France’s 12 straight points.

France and Canada, both undefeated at 3-0, dispute the lone ticket to the Rio Olympics on Sunday night.

Asik scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds while Erden had 11 points and seven rebounds.