Division A: France Survives 40 Minutes of Trailing to Stun Greece

The most improbable result of the day in Trento and Rovereto belonged to France, who somehow won a game they never led. Greece controlled the scoreboard for 39 minutes and 23 seconds essentially the entire contest before France closed with a 6-0 run to steal a 66-65 win. Hugo Yimga-Moukouri (205-SF-2008) carried the load with 18 points, nine of them at the free-throw line, and delivered the winning stretch himself: two points, three rebounds, and a stone wall on defense that held Greece scoreless for the final 3:13. Charalampos Bilionis (203-C-2008) had done everything right for Greece 9 points, 13 rebounds right up until the moment it mattered least. Spain needed a similarly late escape against Latvia, trailing for nearly 24 of the 40 minutes before Gerard Fernandez (185-G-2008) took over. Down 79-81 with 3:29 left, Fernandez hit three straight free throws to flip the lead, then buried a pull-up three to make it a four-point cushion; Latvia's last gasp, a Ralfs Aleksandrovs (189-G-2008) three that would have retaken the lead with just over a minute to go, rimmed out. Diego Niebla (202-F-2008) anchored the win underneath with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Aleksandrovs matched him with 19 points and eight assists in the losing effort. Israel found itself in a nearly identical script against Austria a tie game with 6:50 left, a David Musis (208-C-2008, agency: Octagon Europe) three to answer it, and a hold-on finish sealed by Aviv Aronov (194-F-2008)'s five points in the last 79 seconds for an 84-80 win. Armin Kapic (193-F-2008) fouled out for Austria despite a monster line of 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Serbia had the day's best second-half turnaround, flipping a four-point halftime deficit into a 74-66 win over Denmark behind a 24-12 third quarter; Lazar Maksic (195-G-2008)'s game-tying layup at the 7:08 mark set it off, and Andrija Susic (197-G-2008) came off the bench for 11. Germany pulled off something similar against Lithuania, erasing a 10-point second-quarter hole on the strength of Lucai Anderson (190-G-2009)'s 24 points and a 21-7 run that spanned the break, for an 86-69 win.
Everyone else simply took care of business. Turkiye never trailed past the opening minute of a 93-63 rout of Slovakia, building a 51-17 halftime lead with Anil Alyanak (204-PF-2008) stuffing the stat sheet 9 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks and Yigit Pinar (189-G-2008) scoring 17 in just 18 minutes. Slovenia was similarly comfortable in an 88-66 win over Bulgaria, with Gal Cop (193-PF-2008) hitting 4-of-7 from three for 19 points, though Bulgaria's Kristiyan Zanov (208-C-2009) had a monster night of his own with an 18-point, 17-rebound double-double in defeat. And Italy took the lead late in the first quarter against Estonia and never gave it back, cruising to an 84-69 win as five different players reached double figures, led by Papa Niang (196-G-2008)'s 15; Estonia's Hendrik Pertel (197-F-2008) scored 19 but had little help.