France guard Antoine Diot was so prolific with his passing in Sunday's 92-54 victory over Belgium that his teammate Ronny Turiaf likened him to NBA Hall-of-Famer John Stockton.

Diot came off the bench and scored just one point but the 20-year-old finished with a game-high nine assists as France won the Additional Qualifying Round Play-off second leg by 38 points.

Turiaf, who led all scorers with 19 points - 15 in the first half - said he was the primary beneficiary of Diot's excellent play which helped Les Bleus reach EuroBasket 2009.

"I was aggressive, as the coach had wanted me to be," Turiaf said in L'Equipe.

"And it went pretty well. I want to say that without Antoine Diot, I would not have had success tonight.

"I told him: 'You came and you changed the course of the game'.

"He began to push the ball and the agreement between us was very good.

"We must give him credit because the boy has come up with a big, big, big game.

"That was John Stockton! I understand why he was MVP in 2005 (U16 European Championship for Men)."

Even in 2005, however, Diot didn't come close to having a game like Sunday.

In that tournament, he averaged nearly 22 points per contest but the most assists he handed out in a single game was three.

At the U16 event in 2005, France finished with a silver medal after falling to Turkey in the final.

The comprehensive victory over Belgium on Sunday which gave France a 34-point win on aggregate over the two legs has put them into EuroBasket Group B against Germany, Latvia and defending European champions Russia.

The tournament tips off on September 7 and France will play Germany in their first game.