France Dominates Switzerland in 3×3 Basketball World Cup Round of 16 with a Place in the Quarterfinals

Panting to the end. The very last Swiss basket with 2 points at the buzzer will not change anything, France dominated Switzerland by nothing (19-18), this Saturday, in the round of 16 of the 3×3 Basketball World Cup. If the French world champions have firmly validated their place in the quarterfinals an hour earlier, their male counterparts have had to work hard.

Coming out of their group at the last minute (three defeats for one victory), the bronze medalists of the 2022 edition reacted on the field for their first knockout match. Well entered into their match (8-3 at 5 ‘), the Blues saw the Swiss come back, carried by an untenable Westher Molteni (8 pts and 7 rebounds), and equalize two minutes from regulation time, igniting the match until in the last seconds. But the essential is assured, a place in the quarter-finals, against the United States, world champions in 2019 but absent from the Tokyo Olympics (at 7:45 p.m.).

“We had a really bumpy start to the competition (three defeats for a group victory), we were not satisfied with us and there it was a bit of our card to redeem ourselves and prove that we can get a medal, ensures Franck Séguéla (11 points and 5 rebounds against Switzerland). We are focused on that. We will approach the match against the United States in the same way, we do not look at the statutes of who did what before. Here, it’s 3×3, it’s more the street and we know what we’re worth and we’ll try to get into them. We will have to want more than them and show the resilience of this group. »

“We have a very proud team, who know how to react when we take a slap (reference to the defeat at the buzzer against Madagascar in pool, 21-20, Thursday)appreciates Karim Souchu, tricolor coach. There, we have a big piece coming, but I think that with this team, nothing is impossible. We will have to be in the tactical intelligence of what we know how to do. »