Euro Basket: Belgium surprisingly, France already qualified

Montpellier - Belgium has offered the scalp of Lithuania, outgoing runner Monday at the 3rd day of the first round of Euro-2015 gentlemen, marked by a third success of France qualified for the first knockout round .

The "Lions" Belgian imposed themselves with a tap of Matt Lojeski at the buzzer. The back of Olympiakos, excellent (20 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists), has enjoyed a remission of his partner Pierre-Antoine Gillet to offer a second success to his clan.

Hitherto unbeaten in Group D, the Baltic selection started walking the floor (20-12) under the leadership of Jonas Valanciunas (10 pts in 9 minutes, 25 pts in total and 12 rebounds). But then suffered his poor defense and long-range address (1/13) was prohibitive.

In this sector, the Belgians assured them (11/26) back to their disability and style their opponents over the bar.

In Group A, France, defending champion defeated Poland (69-66) despite a severe lack of address 3 points (15%) but a good defense, to take only the first place in the group and validate his ticket to the knockout stages.

It will attempt to keep the pole position to avoid too big opponent in the next round which will cross one of the teams in Group B, the toughest.

Russia has made it one step closer to the exit, bowing against Finland (79-81). A shot of fireworks Petteri Koponen (12 pts) to 3 seconds of ringing sealed the first success of the Nordic selection, discount plumbing after defeats against France (97-87 AD) and against Israel (66 -79).

With this third setback, Russia's Vitaly Fridzon (22 pts) is last. Undermined by the absences, selection led by Evgeny Pashutin has very little to do with the team that won the bronze medal at the London Games in 2012.

She will have no choice but to react Wednesday during a perilous game against France. "We try to do our best. Today, I have nothing to reproach my players in terms of fighting spirit. We controlled the game until the fourth quarter. But then we made unnecessary mistakes that caused free throws and relaunched the Finns, "said Russian coach.

Bosnia and Herzegovina for its part stuck his head out of the water by defeating Israel (86-84 AD). The hero of the game is called Elmedin Kikanovic (17 pts), who snatched the award-winning overtime on a basket at the buzzer before offering the winning touchdown with one second remaining.