MANILA, Philippines - France’s Les Bleus and Team Canada, narrowly missing outright Olympic entry from their respective regional eliminators, get one last crack at the Rio Games against each other in the finale of the FIBA Olympic qualifier in Manila tonight.
The Frenchmen defused Turkey’s early breakaway bid and asserted their might in a 75-63 win while the Canadians beat out the foul-riddled New Zealand squad at the finish for a 78-72 victory in their side of the Manila OQT semifinals at the MOA Arena last night.
Second-string guard Tomas Heurtel gunned down 2-of-3 three-pointers and a total of 17 points and the rest of the Frenchmen, including the debuting Nicolas Batum, provided backup in dwarfing the tall Turkey squad.
Earlier, Corey Joseph fired away a team-high 20 points then their front liners asserted themselves versus the crippled New Zealand side at the finish as Team Canada squeezed into the final.
Tristan Thompson, Khem Birch and Melvin Ejim worked on a 7-1 closing flurry from a 71-all count and the Canadians whooped it up at mid court celebrating their final entry.
“New Zealand played a tough game. We didn’t shoot the ball the way we’re capable of, but we made some tough shots,” said Canadian coach Jay Triano.
New Zealand’s Tall Blacks fell by the wayside, with their bid against the Canadians suffering a terrible blow early on a severe ankle sprain sustained by scrappy all-around star Isaac Fotu in the opening quarter.
Fotu, among the leading players in the tourney with averages of 12.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists, returned from the halftime huddle already on civvies.
Still, the Tall Blacks engaged the Canadians in a nip-and-tuck battle before succumbing at the finish upon the exit of big men Robert Loe and Mika Vukona on fouls.
With Loe and Vukona gone, the Canadians moved in for the kill at the paint and roared to within a game of an Olympic berth that they missed on a semifinal loss to Venezuela in the 2015 FIBA Americas.
Runners-up in the 1936 Olympics, the Canadians are in chase of a return to the quadrennial games since the last of their nine Olympic stints in Sydney in 2000.
Joseph scored 20 points on 8-of-19 field goals while Thompson and Ejim contributed 13 points each and a combined 17 rebounds.
Carey Webster piled up a game-high 21 points while brother Tai collected 15 markers, 10 boards and four assists to lead New Zealand’s gutsy stand in the game marked by eight dead locks and 11 lead changes.
Thomas Abercrombie filled in for the early exit of Fotu, playing 34 solid minutes he laced with 16 points, six rebounds and two assists.
The Tall Blacks, however, crumbled in the end, unable to control the Canadian big men with Fotu, Loe and Vukona all gone.
Thompson, a player with an NBA championship ring with the Cleveland Cavaliers, drew Loe’s fifth and final foul and nailed two charities to break the 71-all deadlock with 3:19 left to play.
NOTES: This time, the Tall Blacks were greeted with warm applause after they performed their traditional “haka” war dance last night at the Mall of Asia Arena... Even in the end, the Tall Blacks were cheered on as they bowed out of the floor and out of contention. Forming a tight circle at midcourt, they waved to the crowd... It was a different scenario from a few nights ago, when the Tall Blacks played Gilas Pilipinas, and did their “haka” dance before the start of the game. The crowd booed the New Zealand players, perhaps misinterpreting the dance as a provocative act.