ITA - Losing skid ends as Italy upset France in Berlin

BERLIN (FIBA World Championship) - Italy snapped their five-game losing streak with a 79-65 victory over France on Friday at the Supercup in Germany as both sides resumed their preparations for the FIBA World Championship in Japan.

France led at half-time, but the Azzurri pulled away after the break when Gianluca Basile, who finished with 15 points, and Marco Belinelli (14) fuelled a 22-5 run for a decisive 57-44 lead.

The French never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

"We did not play well in the last couple of games so this was an important win against a strong team," Basile said. "It will give us a lot of confidence."

The first half was evenly balanced. A three-pointer from Belinelli gave Italy a 16-12 lead before Tony Parker, who had eight points in the first 10 minutes, cut that to 16-14 at the end of the first quarter.

Joseph Gomis then hit a nice jumper off the dribble to make it 28-22 for Les Bleus but the Azzurri restored parity on a three-pointer from Andrea Pecile at 35-35.

France, beaten in their previous game by Greece in the Acropolis Tournament, took a 37-35 lead into the break following Boris Diaw´s nice low post move.

But Italy took over early in the third as Belinelli and Basile got hot from the arc and a three-ball from the latter capped the decisive 22-5 run.

A 7-0 burst from the French kept them close, but Basile´s long three-pointer saw Italy take a 60-51 at the end of the third period.

After France pulled to within seven at 62-55, Angelo Gigli beat the clock with a long three-pointer and Carlo Recalcati's team never looked back.

Parker led all French scorers with 14 points, while Florent Pietrus added 10.

Denis Marconato and Fabio De Bella each had 10 points for Italy, who will meet the winner of Germany's game against Turkey on Saturday.

France had defeated China, Senegal and Lithuania in the Strasbourg event and Italy and Croatia in Athens, but the loss to Greece and now to the Italians have set alarm bells ringing.

"At the moment I am more worried about us than other teams," French coach Claude Bergeaud said.

"But today we were very tired and could not focus on the game plan. We have to rebuild from zero."

Pietrus also expressed concern.

It scares me that we´re not in rhythm yet," he said. "We have to improve, otherwise we're not going very far. We need to improve as a team."

From Johannes Berendt
PA Sport, Berlin