France and Poland advanced to the semi-finals of the 2022 European Basketball Championship.
The second day of the quarter-finals played from the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, the capital of Germany, started with the match between 2013 champion France and 1983 and 1999 champion Italy.
Entering the last 16 seconds with a 77-75 superiority in Italy, Fontecchio missed 2 free throws after a tactical foul. On the offense of France, Heurtel took the game into overtime with a layup with 5 seconds left.
Showing an impressive attacking performance in the extra time, France won the match 93-85 and made its name among the last 4 teams.
In France, the hero of the match Heurtel had 20 points, 8 assists, and Gobert had 19 points and 14 rebounds. On the Italian side, Fontecchio and Spissu each scored 21 points.
POLAND ELIMINATED THE LAST CHAMPION
In the other match that will determine the opponent of France, the defending champion Slovenia and Poland, whose best score in the tournament in 1963, was second place.
Slovenia, trailing behind the locker room by 19 points (39-58), managed to take the lead at the beginning of the 4th quarter.
Although Poland was behind 74-70 in the last 6 minutes, they were victorious 90-87 with the effective play of Slaughter.
Thus, Poland became a semi-finalist at the European Championship for the first time since 1971.
Ponitka, who had a “triple double” with 26 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists, and Slaughter, who had 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals, carried Poland to the victory.
Cancar scored 21 points and Dragic 17 points for Slovenia. Slovenia’s star player Doncic had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists with 33 percent on the field.
The semi-finals will be played on Friday, September 16.