AUCH (2016 FIBA U17 World Championship) - France prevailed in an overtime thriller over Canada while Australia rolled past Argentina in the first day of a mini-warm-up tournament for the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship. 

France beat Canada 86-85 in overtime as Jaylen Hoard’s 14 points paced four players in double figures. Ivan Fevrier added 13 points, Ludovic Beyhurst scored 12 and Timothee Bazille chipped in 10 points and six rebounds for the host French team. 

The game featured 20 lead changes and 11 ties and 25 points from Danilo Djuricic and 20 points and 10 rebounds from Ignas Brazdeikis were not enough for Canada.

The other two teams in the Auch tournament are Australia and Argentina, and the Oceania powers eased to an 81-65 victory. 

Kody Stattmann nailed seven three-pointers in scoring 21 points while Sam Froling collected 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists and both Sean McDonald and Patrick Bines added 11 points in the victory.

Argentina got 12 points from Lautaro Lopez and Juan de la Fuente had 11 points. 

There are still two more days of games in Auch with each team playing the other three ahead of the U17 Worlds. 

Australia and Canada are both in Group C with China and Finland while France will be playing in Group D with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dominican Republic and Korea. Argentina have been drawn into Group B with Lithuania, Mali and Spain.

FIBA