It looks like things are off to a good start for the Croatian basketball team during their EuroBasket preparations.
The Croatian basketball team played a friendly match against France in Orleans on Tuesday as part of their preparations for the European Championships in September. Croatia defeated France 92-87 (13-19, 29-25, 22-25, 28-18), reports Gol.hr on August 8, 2017.
In the last hundred seconds, Croatia and France were equal (85-85), but a stellar performance by Marko Popović who scored 19 seconds before the finish for 90-85, and then two free throws with ten seconds to go, cemented Croatia’s victory. Aleksandar Petrović’s side won with an outstanding 92-85.
The Croatian basketball team made an excellent 56% of their shots and hit 12 three-pointers out of 25 attempts, which ultimately crowned them victorious. France shot at 48% accuracy and made only 9 of their 28 attempted three-pointers or only 32%. The Croatian players from the bench outplayed the host team 41-26.
Bojan Bogdanovic, who scored 21 points, was the best scorer in our team, accomplishing three rebounds and three assists as well. Dario Šarić, who scored 16 points and achieved ten rebounds and four assists, was the most effective match player. The 19-year-old Dragan Bender was also excellent and scored 11 points, scoring 3 out of 4 attempted three-pointers. Marko Popović scored five of his nine points in the last minute and had six assists. Darko Planinić scored eight points in nine minutes, and six were scored by Kruno Simon and Filip Krušlin.
Evan Fournier led Vincent Colleta's team with 24 points. Nando De Colo scored 15 points with five assists, while Thomas Huertel scored nine points with six assists.
The Croatian basketball team will play next Wednesday, the last match in the tournament, against Lithuania who will meet with France on Thursday.
