In Berlin, France pulled off a remarkable rally after regulation, and they used that energy to advance to the EuroBasket semifinals.
In a quarterfinal game on Wednesday, Thomas Heurtel scored 20 points, Rudy Gobert added 19 points and 14 rebounds, and France managed to defeat Italy 93-85.
With 1:59 remaining in the game's regular season, France was down by seven points when it embarked on a 25-10 run to end the match.
France had just defeated Turkey in the round of 16 on Saturday and needed a similar strategy to defeat them. This was their second straight fourth-quarter comeback and overtime victory.
Gobert declared, "I don't believe in luck. We could have given up again tonight, but we managed to obtain the required baskets.
For a spot in the championship game, France will play either the reigning champion Slovenia or Poland on Friday. Later on Wednesday, Slovenia and Poland squared off in the quarterfinals.
On Tuesday, the other half of the semifinal bracket was determined: Spain will play Germany on Friday.
With 16 seconds remaining and a two-point lead, Italy had a chance to win the game perhaps, but Simone Fontecchio missed a pair of free throws. Another uncanny parallel may be drawn to Saturday, when Cedi Osman failed to make two free throws with 12.2 seconds remaining as Turkey led by two, prolonging France's chances.
With 5.2 seconds left in regulation, Heurtel's layup knotted the score. France went behind for a little 23 seconds only once during overtime, and Evan Fournier's floater with 3:29 remaining gave his team the lead for good.
France received 17 points from Fournier, 15 points from Guerschon Yabusele, and 13 points from Timothe Luwawu-Carrot.
For Italy, which was attempting to reach the EuroBasket semifinals for the first time since taking home the bronze in 2003, Fontecchio and Marco Spissu both scored 21 points.
Italy trailed by as many as 11 points early but outscored France 31-18 in the third quarter and went on to lead by as many as eight points early in the fourth. Luigi Datome scored 12 points, and Nicolo Melli added 10.
How shall I begin? Naturally, it's very painful," Datome remarked. "Excruciatingly painful. However, I'm incredibly proud of my team.
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