Title challengers Spain, France split two exhibition games in France

MIES (Switzerland) - France and Spain - two of the top challengers for the title at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2023 - split two exhibition games played this past weekend in France as both teams are early in their preparations.

France won the first game in Temple-Sur-Lot 66-57 on Saturday and then were defeated 81-75 a day later by a Spanish team that comes to the U19 World Cup as the reigning champion of the FIBA U18 European Championship 2022.

"We started with a very demanding test against France, with a very high physical level. In the first game we were not good physically and we were outmatched. In the second game we were much better and we showed the competitiveness," Spanish assistant coach Aleix Duran said about the first two games.

The two teams will face off on June 25 on the second day of Group A action at the U19 World Cup. They are two of the biggest contenders to reach the podium when all is said and done on July 2.

Zacharie Perrin

In the first game, Spain struggled to deal with France's defense to start the game, with just 2 points in the first 5 minutes and they trailed 17-9 after the first quarter. France kept the Spanish at arm's length for the middle two quarters and then pushed the lead to 21 points after a 9-0 run to make it 60-39 early in the fourth quarter.

Spain showed a strong response with 12 straight points to pull within 62-53 but the hole was too big for the comeback.

Spain could not handle Zacharie Perrin, who had 20 points including 10-of-15 free throws to go with 11 rebounds. Lucas Fischer added 10 points as the team shared the offensive load. Perrin had 10 shots and Alexandre Sarr took 8 attempts while five others had at least 5 shots.

Alejandro Moreno

Spain were led by Alejandro Moreno off the bench with 18 points as the only player in double figures. Nikolas Cebrian made just 2-of-16 shots and the Spanish connected on just 4-of-28 three-pointers (14 percent) and 11-of-23 free throws (48 percent).

The second game was a back-and-forth affair throughout with 16 lead changes and 11 ties and France’s biggest lead being 9 points at 30-21 after 10 minutes. Spain were up by one point with 30 seconds left, but France committed a turnover and missed two shots while Spain converted 5-of-5 free throws down the stretch for the 81-75 victory.

Izan Almansa led the way with 16 points, Cebrian scored 12 points and David Gomez added 10 points. France’s leading scorer was Mathys Kangudia with 15 points and Perrin tallied 14 points in the loss.

David Gomez

France coach Lamine Kebe said the two games were just the beginning of a process to get to Hungary.

"It's a new team. We changed 50 percent of the players, and we took some 2005-born players." said Kebe, who was without one of his top players for the weekend as Zaccharie Risacher was still with his club ASVEL Villeurbanne for the French playoffs.

The FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2023 runs from June 24 to July 2 in Debrecen, Hungary.

FIBA