Germany beats France, undefeated in men's hoops

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — Victor Wembanyama was lurking. Franz Wagner kept going anyway.

He slashed into the middle of the lane, then slipped under the swatting arm of the 7-foot-4 phenom for an emphatic left-handed dunk.

It might have been the biggest highlight of Germany’s 85-71 win over France in Olympic men’s basketball Friday. But asked whether that or a later dunk over Isaia Cordinier was his favorite, Wagner paused.

“The second one,” Wagner said. “I don’t know who was there, honestly, but whatever the second one was.”

Not Wembanyama?

“I don’t even remember the first one, really,” he said.

Wagner and Dennis Schroder scored 26 points each to help Germany take the matchup of two of the top contenders for the gold medal when the tournament shifts to Paris for the quarterfinals.

Daniel Theis added seven points and eight rebounds to help Germany finish unbeaten atop Group B. It was France’s first loss of the group stage.

“I think we’re just ready for the moment and enjoy the moment,” Wagner said.

Wembanyama had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the host country, which trailed by 21 at halftime and struggled to deal with Wagner on the inside as well as with Schroder’s outside shooting.

Germany outscored France 24-9 in the second quarter. France had eight turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

France finally found some traction with Wembanyama sitting to start the fourth, cutting the deficit to 12. By the time Wembanyama reentered the game with 4:30 to play, though, Germany’s lead had ballooned back up to 19.

In other action, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 20 points and seven rebounds as Greece kept its hopes alive of advancing to next week’s knockout round. Greece defeated Australia 77-71.

Thomas Walkup added 18 points for Greece. Jock Landale led Australia with 17 points.

“We didn’t want to leave this tournament without getting a win,” Antetokounmpo said. “We felt like we had a very good team to not get the win. And we competed. We fight for all three games. And I think this has been a game that we had to fight for until the end.”

The top two teams in each of the three groups automatically qualify for the quarterfinals. The final two spots in the next round go to the best third-place teams in group play.

Greece entered the day 0-2 in Group A play, needing to beat the Boomers by 10 or more points and needing Canada to defeat Spain to preserve the possibility of the Greek team’s advancement to next week’s knockout stage in Paris.

Greece’s six-point victory and Canada’s win over Spain gave Greece a third-place group finish, although advancing isn’t guaranteed. Canada and Australia are moving on from Group A, along with France, Germany and Brazil in Group B and the United States in Group C. The final two spots will be determined by what happens Saturday in the Group C matchup between Serbia and South Sudan.

In other Group A action, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 20 points and hit two free throws in the final seconds to help Canada beat Spain 88-85.

Andrew Nembhard added 18 points. Canada now waits to see which team it will face in the knockout round next week.

Dario Brizuela had 17 points for Spain, which was eliminated by virtue of Greece’s win over Australia. It’s an early exit for 1-2 Spain, which last earned an Olympic medal with a bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

In the other Group B game, Bruno Caboclo had 33 points and 17 rebounds, sending Brazil to a 102-84 victory over Japan. And by finishing with a better point differential than Greece, Brazil is assured of going to the quarterfinals as one of the best two third-place finishers.

Vitor Benite added 19 points for Brazil, which finished third in its group behind France and Germany.

Foul trouble limited Caboclo in Brazil’s losses to France and Germany. He went scoreless against France and had just six points in 12 minutes of action against Germany before fouling out. He stayed on the court this time and made his presence felt.

“This is the biggest stage of basketball,” said 28-year-old Caboclo, who played seven NBA seasons for Toronto, Sacramento, Memphis and Houston from 2014 to 2021. “The international team, I think, is bigger than NBA. The Olympics is the biggest in the world. Every athlete wants to be here at least one time. We were able to accomplish that. Hopefully we can go to the quarterfinals.”

Caboclo didn’t know at the time that Brazil was indeed moving on.

Japan played without top scorer Rui Hachimura. Japan’s basketball federation said before the game that Hachimura had left France after sustaining a left calf injury during its overtime loss to the host team.

Caboclo scored 15 of Brazil’s first 31 points, helping it build a 16-point lead in the third quarter. Japan rallied and got back within 77-73 entering the fourth, but Brazil closed the game on a 22-4 run to keep Japan winless at the Olympics.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.