Spain beats France to win EuroBasket gold medal

It was Spain’s fourth European championship in its last six tries, all those golds coming under coach Sergio Scariolo.

“It's easy to say that we are extremely happy," Scariolo said. “We got into this championship in eighth place in the power ranking and we managed to climb, step by step. ... It's been amazing now to see we are above all those great teams."

Lorenzo Brown scored 14 points and had 11 assists for Spain, while Jaime Fernandez scored 13.

Evan Fournier led France — which also dropped the gold-medal game at the Tokyo Olympics to the U.S. last summer — with 23 points, with Thomas Heurtel scored 16 and Guerschon Yabusele added 13.

Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves was held to only six points on just two shots from the field for France.

“Spain played better from start to finish," said Fournier, who plays with the New York Knicks. “They had a clear game plan and we did not execute ours well enough. ... We never really had control of the game. They just played better, man, period."

This was supposed to be a rebuilding summer for Spain. Pau and Marc Gasol, the longtime leaders of the program, retired from international following a quarterfinal loss to the U.S. at the Tokyo Games.

Sergio Gonzalez also decided last summer was the right time to walk away, after 16 years with the national team. Sergio Llull and Ricky Rubio, two more of veterans, couldn’t play because of injuries.

The winning tradition simply continued anyway. Spain is now the reigning Basketball World Cup (won in China in 2019) along with EuroBasket champion. It has also medaled in 10 of its last 11 EuroBasket appearances.

“It's hard to explain with words how I feel," said Willy Hernangomez, who plays in the NBA for New Orleans. “I'm feeling