Raynaud, Kamardine and Yaacov put on a show, as France outlast Israel

HERAKLION (GREECE) - France ended 13 years of waiting to return to the top of the continent by outlasting Israel 89-79 in overtime to win the FIBA U20 European Championship 2023 for the country's second crown following 2010.

France twice reached the podium between the titles - second place in 2012 and third place in 2017 - in addition to three fourth places. But the French showed great depth and balance all tournament to end the inspired play of Israel, who were hoping to win their third U20 trophy in the last four editions.

The 2018 and 2019 champions Israel had to make due with second place - the fourth time they finished runners-up - while hosts Greece took the third spot on the podium.

In the Final, France appeared to take control of the game and surged ahead by 11 points early in the second half, but Israel refused to give up and pulled ahead 70-68 with 109 seconds to go. Les Bleus reclaimed the lead before Daniel Wolf's basket with 11 seconds left evened the game and the game went to overtime. 

France star Ilias Kamardine drained two three-pointers - the second a four-point play - for an 84-77 cushion with 79 seconds to go, and Maxime Raynaud's triple ended any doubts.

Raynaud scored 26 points and Kamardine added  23 points and 7 assists as France came up big in the end. Noam Yaacov paced Israel with 31 points and Daniel Wolf tallied 17 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks in the losing effort. 

Key Storylines

- France become the ninth country to win multiple U20 continental crowns

- France's Ilias Kamardine named MVP to headline All-Star Five

- Greece rally from 12 points down to round out podium

- Croatia relegated to Division B alongside Estonia after losing to Montenegro in the game for 13th place.

 

Top Performers

Samet Yigitoglu posted the best efficiency of the final day with 36 in Turkey's win over Lithuania. The Turkish big man scored a tournament best 33 points and also registered his fourth double-double with 13 rebounds to go with 1 assist and 1 steal.

 

The second-best performance came from Israel's Noam Yaacov in the Final. The point guard tallied 31 points and also had 3 rebounds and 5 assists for an efficiency of 27.

Yaacov may have gotten a higher efficiency but Maxime Raynaud got to celebrate the championship as the Frenchman had a big Final with 26 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block for an efficiency of 26.

 

Iceland's 17-year-old prospect Tomas Thrastarson quietly has been one of the top players in Heraklion and he finished with another big showing with 25 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal for an efficiency of 26.

 

The fifth-best efficiency was produced by tournament MVP Ilias Kamardine, who had 23 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks for a 25 ranking.

Results of the Day

Final

France 89-79 (OT) Israel

Third Place Game

Greece 68-64 (OT) Belgium

Classification Games

Poland 71-62 Estonia
Iceland 75-90 Slovenia
Serbia 82-78 Germany
Montenegro 81-78 Croatia
Italy 75-69 Spain
Turkey 70-66 Lithuania

 

 FIBA