Bosnia and Herzegovina prevail over France in double OT thriller

SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina) - Bosnia and Herzegovina rode a rollercoaster of emotions and managed to prevail in a 96-90 double overtime thriller over France in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers.

In a showdown of teams who will face off in the Group Phase of the FIBA EuroBasket 2022, France fell behind by 18 points in the first quarter but put together a 30-point swing to lead by 12 points midway through the third quarter.

Bosnia and Herzegovina bounced back and finished the third quarter on a 20-0 run and were up by as many eight points. However, France rallied late and tied the game to force overtime with a dunk from Evan Fournier.

The French survived trailing by as many as five points in the first overtime as well with Rudy Gobert dunking home an offensive rebound with 30 seconds left to force a second extra session.

With Bosnia and Herzegovina big man Jusuf Nurkic fouled out, the rest of the team stepped up in the second overtime to get the win after 50 minutes. Nurkic led the way though with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists while John Roberson scored 18 points and Dzanan Musa collected 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

France were led by Fournier with 24 points with Guerschon Yabusele picking up 16 points and Gobert adding 10 points and 14 rebounds before he was banished to the bench early.

Turning point: The game was full of highs and lows for both teams and massive momentum shifts with the game going to double overtime. In the second overtime with Bosnia and Herzegovina ahead 91-90, Kenan Kamanjas put back a Roberson missed three-pointer and then came back at the other end to block Vincent Poirier. Aleksandar Lazic finished off the game with a three-pointer with 23 seconds left.

Game hero: It's nearly impossible to pick just one hero for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nurkic carried them for large parts of the game while Musa was outstanding as well. But Kamenjas came up with the big plays when it mattered most and finished with an impressive all-around statline of 9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Stats don't lie: Bosnia and Herzegovina forced 27 turnovers and the French converted just 46.3 percent on two-pointers. Bosnia and Herzegovina also had a 58-34 advantage of points in the paint.

Bottom line: Bosnia and Herzegovina kept alive their chances of reaching the World Cup as they improved to 4-4 in Group K, leaving more hope for the final two windows after having lost the first game of this window 88-69 at Montenegro. France still sit in a strong position at 6-2 in the group.

They said: "The atmosphere was perfect. It was a great game. It was very powerful. We spent so much energy. We played good most of the game, and that's the reason that we won the game. Congrats to the players for doing a great job after a big loss against Montenegro." - Adis Beciragic, Bosnia and Herzegovina

"I would say it's one of the best wins since I have been with the national team. And I have been with the national team for 14 or 15 years. It's one of the biggest victories that we have ever had. It feels great. It was in front of our fans, in front of our people. It feels good because it was against France and I have been playing in France for five years. So it feels even better." - Miralem Halilovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina

"They played a very good game. After losing to Montenegro they had some revenge to take. They started the game with some great intensity. Sometimes it was like there were more than five players on the court. They put a lot of pressure on us and created a lot of turnovers and opened a big lead. We got back into the game and we had some very good momentum at the end of the second quarter. We got the lead and thought the most difficult was done. But it wasn't the case at all. We had the same situation with the same energy in the second half. We had the will to fight all the way. Because of our efforts we got to double overtime, but I think it was Bosnia's day. You could see that with the last two plays." - Vincent Collet, France

"It was a fun game to play because of the atmosphere. The fans were great. They played with a lot of heart and extremely hard. They contested everything we did. We knew they lost in Montenegro and that they would be hungry to start the game." - Evan Fournier, France

 
FIBA