France Katowice Bound After Demolition Of F.Y.R.O.M.

Game Summary

Turning point: The opening tip - France started the game on a 17-3 run, setting the tone for the rest of the game.

Hero: The French bench.  Vincent Collet's reserves tallied 39 points with De Colo leading the way with 14 points while Ali Traore had 13.

Stats: France shot 61 percent for the game and held F.Y.R.O.M. to just 35 percent.

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France booked their spot in the quarter-finals with an overwhelming 83-57 victory over the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia to remain perfect at EuroBasket 2009.

Florent Pietrus and Nando de Colo led five scorers in double figures for Vincent Collet's team with 14 points each while Tony Parker, Ali Traore and Nicolas Batum all added 13 points.

The French improved to 3-0 in the Qualifying Round Group E and join Greece into the final eight, which start on 17 September in Katowice.

"We started very strong. We wanted to put a lot of pressure on (F.Y.R.O.M.). We watched their other games and saw that if they could develop their game that they could shoot, including their big men. And we didn't want them to have their position. And that helped us early. And the game was over at half-time," said Collet, whose team used a 17-3 run to start the game and never looked back.

"We started the game well, just like the coach asked us too. We knew that we had to start well. Even though they were considered the weakest team in the group, there was no reason to let up," said de Colo.

F.Y.R. of Macedonia slumped to 0-3 in the group despite nine points each from Jeremiah Massey and Darko Sokolov while Predrag Samardziski had seven points and eight rebounds for Jovica Arsic's team, whose team shot just 35 percent for the game.

"They played much better than my team. We didn't play defense like we should have. They scored almost 50 points (48 points) in our point. And that is unacceptable," said Arsic.

Riste Stefanov nailed a three-pointer about two minutes into the game as Arsic's men took their only lead of the game at 3-2.

Pietrus and Batum led a 15-0 charge which eventually saw the French lead 24-9 after one period.

Parker scored the first seven points of the second quarter for France, who opened the period with a 14-0 surge for a 38-9 advantage. Todor Gechevski finally got F.Y.R.O.M. on the scoring board with four minutes left in the second quarter and Arsic's underdogs trailed 49-18 at intermission.

Pietrus's triple to start the second half pushed the gap to 34 points and Collet's team would not allow their opponents any closer than 28 points in the period and led 67-35 after three quarters.

The French's final reserves came on in the fourth and watched F.Y.R.O.M. go on a 9-3 run to cut the deficit to 70-44. But France scored the next seven points and the gap did not go lower than 26 points the rest of the way.

Quotes France vs. F.Y.R. of Macedonia

Pero Antic, F.Y.R.O.M. player:

"I really don't know what happened. France has got a good team, but such a great loss was very painful. However, we are professionals. We have to forg et this loss, clear our heads and practise more."

Jovica Arsic, FYROM Coach:

"The French team put much more energy into the game. From the start we did not play defense as we should. We allow them very easy lay ups and slum dunks. They scored 50 points in our paint which is unacceptable. This is the reason that we have had this result."

Tony Parker, French player:

"I didn't expect such an easy win. For the first time everything that we tried on offence was absolutely successful. The shooting efficiency was really high. Personally I didn't know any FYRoM player, so it was completely New experience."

Vincent Collet, France Coach:

"We wanted to put a lot of pressure on the F.Y.R.O.M. team because we saw their first three games. We could have seen, watching those games, they were able to develop their game. We knew that they have a lot of great shooters especially among the big men who can step out. We wanted to try to make them step back in order to limit the good shooting positions."