FRA/SRB - France hold off Serbia to finish unbeaten

LONDON (Olympic Test Event) - France wasted most of a 23-point lead but did just enough in the closing stages to get the better of Serbia 80-77 and finish with a perfect 5-0 mark at the Olympic Test Event in London on Sunday.

The French got off to a quick start and were up 25-18 to end of the first quarter.

They pulled away some more in the second period for a commanding 48-31 advantage at the break.

With Serbia limiting the playing time of their key players - Milos Teodosic, Nenad Krstic and Dusko Savanovic played no more than 17 minutes - Les Bleus kept on coming in the early part of the third quarter.

They went up by the score of 64-41 on a basket by Boris Diaw with 4:12 left to play in the period.

Dusan Ivkovic's side then stormed back with Aleksandar Radic, Ivan Paunic and Milan Macvan leading a three-point shooting barrage.

The Serbs regained the lead for the first time since late in the opening period when Boban Marjanovic scored inside.

France responded by bringing back their entire starting five and Tony Parker and Nicolas Batum ensured the win with key baskets in the late stages.

Afterwards, centre Joakim Noah said he was happy with the work his team had been able to do during the week in London as they finalise their preparations for EuroBasket that will start in Lithuania at the end of the month.

"We've done a lot of good things and we're going to continue working hard," he said.

The son of famed French tennis legend Yannick Noah has high hopes of returning to London for next year's Olympic Games. First, France must qualify.

"I would love to be back here next year. This week has been great with the competitive games, the atmosphere, the arena" he said.

For Serbia, they will look to solve their problems as they head back to Belgrade before leaving for Lithuania..

They finished with a 2-3 mark for the tournament, including consecutive losses against Australia and France to finish the week.

Earlier on Sunday, Australia edged out Great Britain 91-90 after overtime in a thrilling yet physical encounter.

The two teams combined for 65 fouls and 81 free-throw attempts in a game that saw 14 lead changes and seven ties.

As was the case in their defeats at the hands of Croatia and Serbia earlier in the week, Great Britain could not close out the game and came up short of notching their second win of the tournament.

After falling behind by as many as 10 points, they fought back late in the third quarter thanks to Luol Deng, Joel Freeland and 18-year-old Devon van Oostrum.

The hosts got within 62-61 heading into the final frame.

The teams went back and forth in the fourth quarter, with the Boomers in the ascendency - but only just - until Mike Lenzly buried a key three-pointer and Freeland made one of two free-throws for an 80-78 lead.

Adam Gibson hit a pair of foul shots to tie the game and Deng missed a potential winning basket at the buzzer, forcing the first game to go into overtime in the tournament.

In the overtime, Great Britain took their biggest lead of the game, 89-84, with 2:41 left to play.

However, missed free-throws by Ogo Adegboye and a turnover by Deng with two seconds to go and the score tied gifted the game to Australia.

Freeland said he knew exactly what Great Britain would have to work on most before the start of EuroBasket.

"We need to do a better job of closing out games," he said.

"We lost some close ones here and we can't let that happen."

The win saw the Boomers finish with a 4-1 mark as they continue their preparations ahead of the FIBA Ocenia Championship against New Zealand.

In the day's opening game, Croatia beat injury-depleted China 83-53 to finish with a 3-2 mark, good enough for third place in the tournament standings behind France and Australia.

FIBA