France stunned by Latvia, eliminated from men's hoops World Cup - ESPN

France came to the World Cup planning to win gold. It won't even make the second round, a stunning development for the reigning Olympic silver medalists.

Latvia got 22 points from Arturs Zagars and shocked France 88-86 on Sunday night in a Group H game in Jakarta, Indonesia. The result sent Latvia and Canada through to the second round and meant France, which won the bronze at the past two World Cups, cannot finish better than 17th place this year.

«We let a lot of people down, ourselves first,» French forward Nicolas Batum said.

Rolands Smits added 20 points and Davis Bertans had 15 points as Latvia rallied from a 13-point deficit. It took the lead for the first time with 37.7 seconds left and held on when Sylvain Francisco missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

«Congrats to Latvia,» Batum said. «They earned it. They deserved it.»

Evan Fournier had 27 points for France, which lost to Canada in its opener.

The momentum swung in the middle of the fourth quarter when France playmaker Nando de Colo was ejected after receiving his second unsportsmanlike foul.

Latvia and Canada will play for Group H's top spot Tuesday.

Canada 128, Lebanon 73

RJ Barrett scored 17 points as Canada overpowered Lebanon to continue its perfect start.

Trae Bell-Haynes added 15 points and eight assists for Canada (2-0), which opened with an impressive 95-65 win over France. Canada set a senior men's national team record for points — it scored 126 against Jordan at the World Cup four years ago — and set a tournament record with 44 assists.

FIBA began keeping assist records in 1984.

After recording 27 points in his World Cup debut, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists in 17 minutes. Canada used 11 players and nine reached