By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
France was dominant in the third quarter, when they outscored their opponents 21-12, and beat Serbia 81-68 to finish third in the 2015 Eurobasket and claim the bronze medal, with both teams having already qualified to the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
The first half was a close derby, but France played better in the last 20 minutes of the game and had no problem to be victorious in the match.
Nando De Colo was the top scorers for the winners with 20 points, as three more players were in double digits. Rudy Gobert made an impressive double-double (15 points, 14 rebounds) and tied the record for the number of rebounds grabbed by a French player. On the other hand, for the Serbians, who were clearly disappointed after their loss to Lithuania in the semi-final, Bogdan Bogdanovic was the top scorer with 14 points, while Miroslav Raduljica had 11 points and eight rebounds.
In the first quarter, none of the teams could secure a big advantage (10-7, 15-11) and the quarter ended with France in front by two (16-14). Later, the Serbians responded with an 8-0 run to to take a four-point advantage (16-20), however Vensan Collet’s squad regained the lead (23-20), behind a 6-0 run, and extended it to nine (37-28). Sasa Djordjevic’s team managed to cut the deficit to five after the first 20 minutes (37-32).
In the second half, Tony Parker and company decided to take over. They enhanced their offensive and defensive performance and extended their lead steadily (42-34, 52-39, 58-42), as they outscored their opponents 21-12 in the third quarter.
In the final quarter, Serbia tried to come back and with a 9-2 run they cut the deficit to nine points (60-51), but the French retained the lead in double digits (64-53, 67-55, 78-68), and won the game.
#Eurobasket2015 bronze France https://t.co/8wvGpwbfuw
— Eurohoops.net (@Eurohoopsnet) September 20, 2015