France dethrone Spain to take FIBA U16 EuroBasket title

France were crowned champions of FIBA U16 EuroBasket for a fourth time after defeating Spain in the Final, on Saturday.

Both teams were aiming to complete a perfect tournament in Heraklion, with Spain also chasing a seventh title at the event, but it was France who prevailed after leading from start to finish for an 82-70 victory.

France used a 24-13 opening quarter to take control, and would later lead by as many as 16 points in the contest. Last year’s champions Spain mounted a fightback in the third to close the gap to just four points, but France pulled away again to ensure they would be the last team standing.

Cameron Houindo led the way with 20 points and 11 rebounds in the title decider, and also picked up the honor of being named tournament MVP. The French forward was joined in the All-Star Five lineup by teammate Louka Letailleur, as well as Spain’s Marcos Zurita, Andrej Bjelic of Serbia and Greece’s Chrysostomos Chatzilamprou.

Hosts Greece missed out on a spot on the podium after they were beaten 74-65 by Serbia in the earlier Third Place Game. Vuk Danilovic top scored with 24 points, and Bjelic added 15 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists to help deliver a first medal for Serbia since 2017.

In the battle for Division A survival, Georgia claimed a 75-57 success over Poland, who joined Bulgaria and Croatia in being relegated having finished as the bottom three teams.

Meanwhile, Estonia were the winners in Division B in Skopje, North Macedonia, with the other promotion spots going to runners-up Romania, and Switzerland after beating Belgium 80-75, despite 35 points from Aaron Ona Embo for third place.