PARIS (France) - France were unfazed by a long break at halftime and used a big start to the second half for a comfortable 95-60 win at home over Czech Republic in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers. 

Spurred on by a sold-out crowd of 14,578 - new record for WC European Qualifiers - in the Parisian Accor Arena, Vincent Collet's France team allowed just 18 points in final 20 minutes in cruising to the blowout to stay on course for next summer's spectacle.

Guerschon Yabusele and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot paced five French players in double figures with 16 points each while Rudy Gobert picked up 14 points. Vojtech Hruban was Czech Republic's leading scorer with 14 points.

Turning point:  Despite playing without Tomas Satoransky, Jaromir Bohacik and Vit Krejci, the Czech Republic had a strong first half and led by as many as 12 points midway through the second quarter. France fought back and had trimmed the margin to just four points at halftime. The game then had a lengthy suspension before the start of the second half due to a technical issue on one of the baskets - apparently following a big dunk by Gobert at the end of the first half. France were unfazed by the long wait and opened the second half with an 18-2 run to lead 56-44 midway through the third quarter.

Game hero: Gobert did it all for France as the NBA big man collected 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks in 19 minutes.

Stats don’t lie: France were too strong inside with the likes of Gobert and Yabusele, who helped the hosts to a 60-20 advantage in points in the paint. Czech Republic meanwhile committed 25 turnovers and also shot just 35.5 percent from the field.

Bottom line: France moved another step closer to reaching the FIBA World Cup 2023 with a 6-1 record in Group K while the Czechs fell to 3-4. Ronen Ginzburg's Czech Republic face a big second game in the window on Saturday at home versus Hungary. The French for their part head to the road and will face Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday.

They said: "The long halftime was good for us, probably helped us find our minds again. We started completely different - our aggressiveness level was much higher, and they couldn't handle it. We got some steals and some rhythm thanks to the good defense. And that made the difference." - Vincent Collet, France

"It was a tough game at the beginning. We adjusted at halftime and were stronger and played together to get this win. But we definitely have to do better at the beginning of the game and not be behind and try to control the game." - Guerschon Yabusele, France

"We played the first half great, but in the second half we didn't handle the pressure. We need to remember we were missing three guards, so it was tough to handle the pressure. I can be happy about the first half."- Ronen Ginzburg, Czech Republic

"I don't think they expected us to play the way we played. We played as a team, we shared the ball. We made some tough shots and we didn't give them anything for free. Unfortunately in the second half we got ourselves into a problem. Some guys are not used to this level of pressure." - Ondrej Balvin, Czech Republic.

FIBA