Rudy Gobert of France dunks the ball during the Group G match against the Dominican Republic in the 2019 FIBA World Cup at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center on Thursday. France beat the Dominican Republic 90-56. Both countries secure spots of 16. Photo by Liu Xudong
BEIJING (China) - In a battle to decide the top team of Group G, France showed that they are at a different level than everybody else with a massive 90-56 victory over the Dominican Republic, finishing the First Round with a perfect 3-0 record.
France took a wire-to-wire victory and featured four players scoring in double figures buoyed by their team total of 25 assists.
Victor Liz is the only player to break into double digits for the Dominicans with 12 points in a masterful performance by France.
Turning Point: After a strong 18-8 at the end of the first quarter, France blitzed the Dominicans 13-4 to open the second quarter and just broke the game wide open from that point on and was never threatened the rest of the way.
TCL Player of the Game: Nando De Colo led a balanced French attack with 15 points that saw all players used by Vince Collet score a basket in the 34-point rout.
Stats Don't Lie: France was on fire the whole game as evidenced by their 57 percent shooting performance compared to the Dominicans paltry 28 percent clip.
Bottom Line: After their 3-0 romp in the Group Phase, the French have given themselves a great look at a Quarter-Final seat. The Dominican Republic will be hard-pressed for a slot with the looming matchup against tough rivals Australia and Lithuania waiting on the wings.
We started the game very well, very seriously. After the big performance of the Dominican Republic on Tuesday against Germany, we didn’t want them to keep the confidence. It was very important for us to start strong defensively. We didn’t make any mistakes in the first seven or eight minutes, and they had a lot of trouble going to the basket. We kept going, in the second quarter, it was the same. We stayed very serious, we shared the ball well, and for the first time, we found our big men better. The starting five was playing very well and finding Mathias (Lessort) and Vincent (Poirier) underneath and we built the lead and we kept it.. - France head coach Vincent Collet
They played very good basketball, especially on defense. They contested all of our shots, they forced us into turnovers, and I think they played a very good game. There was only one team on the court and it was France. - Dominican Republic head coach Nestor ‘Che’ Garcia