With a championship game against the USA waiting in the horizon, France and Serbia played until the final buzzer Friday afternoon.
The first quarter saw Serbia score 21 points as opposed to France's 15. Serbian guard Milos Teodosic led his national team with 24 points, while France's leading scorer ended up being Portland Trailblazers forward Nicolas Batum with 35 points. In the second quarter, Serbia maintained its dominance, pouring in 25 points and limiting France to 15.
With the game going the Serbs way, after halftime, France ended up tightening the game and the third quarter saw the French side score 14 points and Serbia only with 15. Serbia's Bogdan Bogdonovic had 11 points off the bench for his national team, while Evan Fournier gave the French 10 off the bench. With the chance at a spot in the finals on the line, France chipped away at an 18-point Serbian lead and ended up outscoring them in the fourth quarter, 39-29, but that was not enough. The French drained nine three-pointers in the final quarter as well, but they dug themselves a huge hole early in the game, and it was difficult for them to overcome the deficit.
Serbia earned its opportunity to face Team USA in the Finals. Shooting was not a problem for either side during this match. France shot 46 percent from the field, while Serbia went 32-of-56 from the field for 57.1 percent. Although France ended up getting back into the game, its 12 turnovers did nothing but hurt its chances at stealing this match.
France will go on to play Lithuania for the bronze medal on Saturday, September 13 at 12 pm ET. Meanwhile, on Sunday, September 14, Team USA will face off against Serbia at 3 pm ET on ESPN2.