The Canadian U17 men’s team fell in a matchup of top five programs as France’s stacked roster proved to be too much in an 87-55 loss at the 2022 FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup in Malaga, Spain.
France, ranked third in the world, came out of the gate flying on an 18-4 run with Canada struggling to get into offensive sets, and France capitalizing by jumping into passing lanes for easy buckets. Canada eventually settled into their offence at the end of the first quarter, but it was 26-9 led for France with Illan Pietrus, with 13 points, and Ilane Fibleuil, with 15 points, leading the way.
Baraka Okojie, who had 15 points and five rebounds, got Canada on the board early in the second, and the Canadians shooting began to appear with a three pointer from Jacob Theodosiou and a deep two from Mikkel Tyne began that slowly work away at the French lead. Noah Penda and Pačome Dadiet would respond for France, and kept the lead at 49-32 heading into halftime.
Throughout the first half, France shot 50 per cent from three while holding Canada to just 23 per cent from deep. They also dominated on the glass with 27 rebounds to Canada’s 18.
Steph Osei and Jovan Milicevic each contributed seven points, and Milicevic added six rebounds.
Team Canada timeout (Courtesy FIBA)
France continued their dominance coming out of the half, with a 13-2 run after Canada started with back-to-back buckets and controlled the pace of the game the rest of the way with superior defence and standout performances coming from throughout their roster.
Canada gets a rest day on Monday before facing Serbia, the sixth ranked U17 program in the world. Serbia dropped their opening game 81-68 against France but are coming off of 120-72 drumming of New Zealand led by Filip Jovic’s 18 points. The game will take place at 9:45 a.m. est. on Tuesday and will be streamed on FIBA’s YouTube channel.
CAN vs. FRANCE Boxscore click HERE.
CAN vs. SERBIA Tuesday July 5th at 9:45am EST. Click HERE to watch.
