Fall stars as France finish with a flourish to stay perfect

NANCY (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - France booked their place in the Second Round of the European Qualifiers as they maintained their perfect record in front of their home crowd with a 64-49 victory over Belgium.

The Group E leaders took over in the second half with a dominant performance at both ends of the floor to become the first team in the competition to a 4-0 start.

Turning point: Belgium managed to edge ahead going into the half-time break with a 32-30 advantage, but the home side stepped up their defense when play resumed as they held their opponents to just 7 points to take control.

Game hero: Moustapha Fall was a perfect 10 of 10 from the field as he topscored with 23 points to lead the way for the hosts, while also coming up with 3 blocks on the defensive end.

Stats don't lie: France were efficient inside as they converted 61 percent of their attempts, while Belgium were held to below 30 percent shooting from two-point range with the visitors’ shooting statistics dipping drastically in the second half.

Bottom line: France remain unscathed as they make it four wins from four ahead of the final window, while Belgium face a double-header at home in June-July as they fight for their survival.

What they said: "Thanks to our very good defense, we resisted in the first half even if we were not making one shot from outside against the zone. In the second half, we found a solution, we started to make a few shots from outside. We finished with six so we made five in the second half and we kept defending very tough, and I think even a bit better. That's why they scored only 17 points in the second half." - France coach Vincent Collet.

"It was a tough game. We fight for 30 minutes of the game and then we saw that the physical play of the opponing team took us away. If you look at our second half we only scored 17 points. It was really hard for us at the end to find a way to the basket. They are really tall and physical. It was hard for us but I'm proud of my teammates. It's not over yet. We have two games left." - Belgium guard Jonathan Tabu.

FIBA