Clutch Wembanyama secures Group K top spot for France in a thriller with Lithuania

MUNICH (Germany) - It was a straight head-to-head battle for the first spot in Group K, and it seemed like Lithuania could run away with a road win in France. However, Victor Wembanyama had other ideas - helping to secure a 70-63 win.

The 19-year-old didn't have the craziest of games numbers-wise, but it was his shots that led France over the line and ended the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers with a 10-2 record.

Turning point: France owned a 10-point lead heading into the fourth, but Margiris Normantas inspired a 15-4 run by the visitors to take the lead late in the game. They were still up 58-57 when Wembanyama decided it was time to seal the deal.

The gigantic figure used his soft touch to knock down back to back jumpers inside the arc, and hit a couple of free throws to push the French lead to to 66-60 with less than a minute to play. There was no time for another comeback as France sealed the win.

Game hero: Running out of words to describe Victor Wembanyama. He scored six of his team-high 15 points in the final two minutes, showing he doesn't need to break records to win the game. Wemby had 3 rebounds and 3 blocks also to his name.

Stats don't lie: France's 6-of-18 from three-point range isn't going to scare anyone, but it looked impressive compared to Lithuania's 7-of-25 shooting, and even more impressive than the 3-of-17 shooting from deep for men not named Margiris Normantas on the Lithuanian roster.

Bottom line: Both teams advanced to the World Cup, but France get the bragging rights for their first place after two rounds of qualifying. Coach Vincent Collet can be happy with the contribution of his experienced guys, Paul Lacombe was great three days ago, Nicolas Lang took over on Sunday with 13 points off the bench, done on 5-of-5 from the field.

Lithuania got 17 points from Normantas, while veteran Mindaugas Kuzminskas also got to double digits with 11 points.

They said:

FIBA