France beats Germany to return to gold medal game

PARIS : Bolstered by an electric home crowd, a turbo-charged French men's basketball team won a 73-69 thriller over Germany on Thursday to send the host through to the Paris Olympics gold medal game.

France was led by a 17-point effort from Guerschon Yabusele while Isaia Cordinier chipped in 16, none more important than two free throws with seven seconds to play to blunt a Germany fight back and seal the win

France, Tokyo Olympic silver medallists, now await the winner between the United States and Serbia, who meet later on Thursday.

That contest will be a rematch of the 2016 Rio Summer Games gold medal final and will pit the star-studded squad led by LeBron James, a four-time NBA most valuable player against the reigning three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.