Spain became the EuroBasket champion for the fourth time after defeating France 88-76 in the final in Berlin.
Juancho Hernangomez shot 7 for 9 from downtown en route to 27 points to lead the winners. His brother Willy Hernangomez added 14 points and 8 rebounds while point guard Lorenzo Brown of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv ran the show with 14 points and 11 assists. Evan Fournier was France’s top scorer with 23 points and Real Madrid forward Guerschon Yabusele contributed 13 points and 6 assists in defeat.
Rudy Gobert’s free throw opened the scoring and would prove to be France’s only lead of the game. Lorenzo Brown put Spain on top with 3 free throws and later a 9-2 run gave Spain a double-digit lead, 18-7. A three by Rudy Fernandez made it 23-14 after 10 minutes. Juancho Hernangomez drilled 5 three-pointers in the first 5 minutes of the second half as the lead swelled to 41-22. It peaked at 47-26 on Willy Hernangomez’s layup before France finished the half on a 0-11 tear – with the last 5 points coming from Fournier, to get within 47-35 at halftime.
France retained its momentum into the second half and Yabusele trimmed the deficit to 49-46. Spain regrouped during a timeout and soon Jaime Fernandez restored a double-digit margin. It was 66-57 at the end of the third quarter. France got as close at 68-61, but Juancho Hernangomez responded and Brown extended the margin to 75-63 with 4 minutes to go as Spain held on for the gold.
Germany captures the bronze
The host nation finished the tournament on the right foot by defeating Poland 82-69 to win the bronze medal. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan big man Johannes Voigtmann shined with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists for the winners. Dennis Schroder was the top scorer with 26 points and Andreas Obst of FC Bayern Munich added 9 points. Michal Sokolowski paced Poland with 18 points and Gran Canaria guard A.J. Slaughter tallied 10 points and 10 assists.
Germany used a 13-0 second-quarter run to build a 34-20 lead and it settled at 36-23 at halftime. Poland rallied to within 5 at the end of the third and tied it at 59-59 in the fourth before Voigtmann stepped up with a three, a block and an assist in an 8-0 charge that made it 73-65 with 3 minutes remaining to put the game on ice.