Basketball: Franca defeats Germans and takes club world cup – 09/24/2023 – Sport

Sesi Franca Basquete became intercontinental champion, considered the club world champion in the sport, this Sunday (24) by defeating Telekom Baskets Bonn, from Germany, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, in Singapore, in the last play of the match.

The 70-69 victory was obtained after forward Lucas Dias scored the decisive basket when the clock showed less than two seconds until the end of the match.

It is the title that was missing from the most traditional team in Brazilian basketball, which was twice world runner-up (1975 and 1980), and the fourth victory for national teams. Oscar Schmidt’s Sírio, in 1979, and Flamengo, in 2014 and 2022, had already reached the top of the competition organized by FIBA ​​(International Basketball Federation). Bonn was trying to win its first title for Germany.

The intercontinental does not include teams that compete in the NBA and has not always included the main European clubs. Bonn, for example, competed in the tournament after winning the FIBA ​​Champions League, created seven seasons ago in Europe to compete with the Euroleague, which brings together the main teams on the continent, such as Real Madrid.

Franca qualified to compete in the competition alongside five other teams by defeating Flamengo in April and winning the Champions League of the Americas.

Franca, led since 2016 by coach Helinho Garcia, debuted in the competition on Friday (22) with a 90-70 victory over Al Ahly, from Egypt. On Saturday (23), they defeated the NBA G-League Ignite, from United States, 98 to 89, a victory that qualified them to decide the title against the German team. The G-League is the NBA’s development league and its main objective is to give a chance to promising athletes or those without space in the teams.

In this Sunday’s game, Franca started better, taking an 18-13 lead in the first quarter, but the German team closed the gap in the second period and left the game tied at 34 points at halftime.
In the third quarter, Franca opened up eight points, winning the partial 24-16, but Bonn recovered again and made it 19-12 in the final period.

The scorer of the game was American guard Glynn Watson, from the German team, with 16 points. Another North American, veteran David Jackson, 41, a winger from Franca, was chosen as the championship’s MVP. Lucas Dias took the award for best in the final.

“There was something in my head saying that it was my moment […] I can’t wait to get to Franca”, said Lucas Dias after the title in a broadcast on the club’s YouTube channel.

Spain has the highest number of achievements in the competition, with 10 titles – five of them from Real Madrid –, followed by Italy, with 7, and Brazil and the United States, both with 4. On ten other occasions Brazilian teams were runners-up, like Bauru, in 2015.

The victory also confirms the hegemony of the country’s most traditional basketball team in recent years. Current two-time champion of the NBB (Novo Basquete Brasil) and the continental competition, he has won 4 of the last 5 in São Paulo and is the current winner of the Super 8 Cup.

In its history, there were 15 state titles, 13 national titles, 6 South American titles and 4 Pan American titles, all of them highlighted on large plaques installed at the Pedrocão gymnasium, in Franca (400 km from São Paulo), where the team plays its games. . The world title was missing. There’s no more left.