Three days after their demonstration in Lithuania (90-65), Vincent Collet's men needed a victory to validate their ticket to Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan, where the competition will take place from August 25 to September 10 2023.

Faced with an opponent who had surprised them at the end of August during the first leg (96-90) just before the Eurobasket but also deprived of his captains Jusuf Nurkic (Portland, NBA) and Džanan Musa (Real Madrid, Euroleague), they did not have ever trembled, winning every quarter, with a division of time and the mark between all the players in this autumn gathering.

"Honestly, I am satisfied, in addition to this two out of two (Lithuania and Bosnia), with the way, even if tonight we were a little less fluid, a little more in difficulty to have rhythm, recognized coach Vincent Collet. They played a lot in the zone, which slowed us down in the transmissions".

For his first outing in Blue on French soil, the prodigy Victor Wembanyama once again distinguished himself by scoring the first 7 tricolor points in the space of 54 seconds (7-2, 4) without materializing the following attempts.

“We discovered players”

His time on the bench visibly reinvigorated him, with a more refined basketball on his return and the same offensive dynamic (7 points almost in a row) to win Bosnians who let go just before the break (40-27).

French international Yoan Makoundou during the victory of the France team against Bosnia, November 14, 2022. GAIZKA IROZ AFP

In the art of deterrence where he is also expected, + Wemby + and his sprawling arms (3 counters, 2 interceptions) have several times thwarted Bosnians forced to force a few situations.

The probable number 1 in the NBA draft finished the game with 19 points (18 evaluation), one unit less than Friday at Panevezys for his Lithuanian baptism.

“Victor had an average game very clearly but as he is an exceptional player, even when he is average, he is still rather good, summarized Collet. After a good start, he got a little on fire with a little bit of waste. He remained a little too much on the periphery and not enough below. It is when he approaches (the circle) that he has an almost systematic domination ".

In his wake, Yoan Makoundou was also the author of a solid performance during the first act (9 points), as well as the interior Damien Inglis during the 3rd quarter (9 points) or the exterior Juhann Begarin who maximized his presence (17 points in 19 minutes).

As for the palm for the basket of the evening, it was shared between this electric dunk of the small leader Sylvain Francisco, best French scorer Friday in Lithuania and author of 8 points in Pau, and this basket with 3 points suspended from Axel Toupane , which made the Palais des Sports roar.

After the break, the Balkan players, carried by Kenan Kamenjas (18 points), tried to hang on before finally exploding in the last quarter (33-12) against the euphoric Blues.

"A lot of players put their noses out the window, admitted Collet. Some scored points, we really discovered players we didn't expect at this level".

© 2022 AFP