PARIS– Guerschon Yabusele scored 17 points as France beat Germany 73-69 in front of a raucous crowd to advance to the men’s Olympic basketball gold medal game.
Isaia Cordinier added 16 points and Victor Wembanyama finished with 11 points and seven rebounds to help France – who won the silver medal in Toyko three years ago – reach their second consecutive Olympic final.
The victory sent the crowd into a frenzy as France celebrated. After a post-game handshake with their German opponents, the entire team ran to the baseline and greeted the fans – who seemed to get louder to thank them for the honor.
The host country of the Paris Games will face the winner of Serbia and the USA on Saturday.
Dennis Schroder led Germany with 18 points. Franz Wagner added 10 points and eight rebounds.
This brings to an end the incredible journey the Germans have been on over the last two years. Since winning last year’s World Cup, they have won 12 consecutive games in major international competitions.
With French and German basketball icons Tony Parker and Dirk Nowitzki sitting side by side on the court, France outscored Germany 38-25 in the second and third quarters, taking a 56-50 lead into the fourth.
But Germany did not go quietly.
It closed at 69-65 on a Schroder layup with less than a minute to play. After a free throw from Frank Ntilikina, Germany reduced the deficit to 70-68 with a 3-pointer from Wagner.
France dribbled the clock, but Nicolas Batum came up empty on a 3-point attempt. Wagner grabbed the rebound, but fell out of bounds as he tried to turn and dribble down the court. He forced Germany to commit a foul.
Wembanyama missed the ensuing first free throw, then calmly dropped the second to take a three-point lead with 10 seconds remaining.
France chose to foul and sent Schroder to the line. He also made just 1 of 2, leaving France with a lead of two. Cordinier was fouled and made both free throws to seal the game.
France stuck with the same modified starting lineup they used during their quarter-final win over Canada, opening the game with Wembanyama, Yabusele, Cordinier, Nicolas Batum and Ntilikina. Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert started the game on the bench for the second game in a row.
It didn’t have the same early success in this round, as Germany took a 12-2 lead.
It forced France coach Vincent Collet to change things less than four minutes later, bringing on Fournier and later Mathias Lessort to help sort things out. They did, and France got back seven points early in the second quarter.
France kept the momentum going, outscoring Germany 15-8 over the next 10 minutes, taking the game to half-time tied at 33.
The rampage included a two-handed strike, dunk ready for poster by Wembanyama over Daniel Theis who brought the French fans to their feet.
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This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
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