The French Basketball team barely beat Cyprus (75-59) this Thursday in Nicosia in qualifying for Euro 2025 for the first match at the helm of the new coach, Frédéric Fauthoux.
The team of France, who wins his third match, occupies the head of group E and will host Cyprus on Sunday at the Arena Futuroscope, near Poitiers, to take a big step towards the Euro (August 27-September 14 in Latvia, Finland, Poland and Cyprus ). Or even get your ticket depending on the other results.
The essential is done but they only had a one point lead (51-50) at the dawn of the last quarter.
Then only seven four minutes from the buzzer (66-59) while they had 14 two minutes earlier (66-52).
Deprived of their players playing in the Euroleague and the NBA, and with five players in their ranks without the slightest selection, they were manhandled by the 82nd selection in the world, which played on its strong point, long distance address: 9/22 including 6/7 for Konstantinos Simitzisauthor of three winning shots in a row at the end of the third quarter to bring his team back together.
The Blues, for their part, have long been lacking in skill (27/64), behind the arc (7/24) and closer to the basket, and have sometimes confused their set-up, after only four joint training sessions for a new group trained by a new staff. Whose boss, Frédéric Fauthouxremained rather calm throughout the meeting.
They escaped the Cypriot trap first thanks to a thunderous start to the fourth quarter: 13-0 to start and take a 14-length lead (64-50) carried at arm's length by Yoan Makoundou.
The power forward on loan from Monaco to Ankara scored all the points in this sequence, notably making a 4/4 on free throws, scoring a winning shot then a furious dunk on the counter-attack. He finished as the top French scorer and with his record for points in the selection (15, plus 7 rebounds and 3 assists).
Makoundou and his teammates then benefited from a boost, when Cyprus came back to breathe down their necks at -7.
New Amen countered a Cypriot, but after the ball bounced on the board, an illegal action not seen by the referees. Behind, Axel Bottle scored on the counter-attack and the Cypriot coach, furious, received a technical foul, giving the Frenchman another free throw, converted.
Result: instead of seeing their lead dwindle to five lengths at 2 min 30 sec, the Blues took a 10 point lead, before folding the game on a winning shot from Nolan Traoré 90 seconds from the end (72-59 ).
The only one succeeded (1/3) by the 18-year-old leader, a great French hope in the position and announced among the first choices of the next NBA draft.
For his first selection, he alternated between the good, a few well-finished penetrations (3rd, 19th) or brilliant assists (4th, 19th and 34th), and the less good (two ball losses, 4/10 shooting).
He finished with 10 points on the clock (in 23 minutes), while the winger or power forward Noah Essengue (Ulm in Germany), another new cap announced highly at the next draft, only played four minutes (no points). They have an appointment; like Fauthoux, with the French public on Sunday.
