PODGORICA (Montenegro) - France needed all they could muster but eventually prevailed with a 73-71 victory over Montenegro to book a spot at the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 - also allowing Great Britain to reach the continental showcase.

Isaia Cordinier had a big three-point play late and Thomas Heurtel knocked down two free throws with 14 seconds as France managed to stave off a valiant effort by the Balkan side, which needed a victory to stay alive.

Heurtel led the way with 16 points and Alexandre Chassang had 11 points and 7 rebounds as France improved to 4-1 in Group G while Montenegro fell to 2-3 with Great Britain at 3-2 and Germany at 1-4.

France turned the ball over 15 times to just six for Montenegro but Vincent Collet's men did a great job stopping Montenegro around the basket, holding them to just 38.5 percent on two-pointers.

"Despite all the turnovers, we stayed in the game thanks to our defense. We didn't give up defensively. And then in the second half we did better offensively," Collet said.

France, who won the European crown in 2013,  have now reached the last 22 EuroBaskets.

France however led for only 2:54 minutes against Montenegro, which must have been nightmarish for the Great Britain team and its fans. Great Britain were probably the biggest France fans in the world for the contest as they needed Les Bleus to beat Montenegro to also make the field for next summer's spectacle.

The British did their part in the permutations as they knocked off Germany 83-81 earlier in Podgorica. Germany turned the ball over on five consecutive possessions in the final four minutes allowing Great Britain to get back in the game and it was tied with 5 seconds to play. Luke Nelson won the game with an acrobatic driving left-handed layup.

 
"EuroBasket has been the goal from the start of this. As British Basketball, we are kind of always underdogs. We want to be seen as if we belong in this company. There are some great teams in Europe that we want to play against and prove ourselves against. And the only way to do that is to make it to EuroBasket," Nelson said.

Nelson ended the game with 17 points and Gabriel Olaseni picked up 20 points and 8 rebounds as Great Britain are back at EuroBasket for the fifth time in the last six editions.

FIBA