FIBA World Cup 2014 results: France stuns Spain, Serbia cruises past Brazil

A juggernaut fell at the hands of France while Serbia had no problem eliminating Brazil.

Sep 10, 2014, 10:21 PM UTC

Javier Soriano, Getty Images

The FIBA World Cup semifinals are set after the final two quarterfinal games played out. Serbia easily handled Anderson Varejao and Brazil, but France stunning Spain in Madrid was the big story of the World Cup Wednesday.

France 65, Spain 52

The 2013 EuroBasket champions are still alive and kicking after eliminating Spain for the second-straight international competition. France’s defense took Spain out of the game, and the Spanish team couldn’t find their shooting touch from beyond the arc. Spain made just two of it’s 22 three-point attempts, digging their way into an early deficit.

Spain pushed back in the third quarter and took a one-point lead going into the final frame, but the French couldn't be held off once the fourth quarter was underway. France started the fourth on a 7-0 run as Evan Fournier and Boris Diaw hit back-to-back shots. Rudy Gobert's sized proved to be a major factor as he came up with two blocks in the final 10 minutes, nullifying Spain's inside presence. Gobert finished the game with just five points, but gobbled up a game-high 13 rebounds and was key in anchoring France's defense with the game on the line.

Thomas Heurtel also made big plays down the stretch, sealing the game with this three-point shot to push the game out of Spain’s reach with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter:

Heurtel finished the game with 13 points, while Diaw led the way with a team-high 15 points. France ended the game on a 10-0 run.

Pau Gasol scored 17 points in what could be his final FIBA World Cup appearance for Spain. Ricky Rubio, Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol each went one-for-seven from the field. The Spanish team was feeling the sting of loss as the final moments ticked away in what was a shocking loss on their own homecourt (h/t Ben Golliver):

spainfeels

Serbia 84, Brazil 56

Serbia punched it’s ticket to the semifinals in convincing fashion, dominating Brazil to advance and face France. Serbia outscored Brazil in all four quarters, led by Milos Teodosic’s 23 points. Teodosic was locked in from three-point range, connecting on three of his five attempts from deep to fuel Serbia’s offnense. He also went to the free-throw line 10 times, making all of his attempts.

Bogdan Bogdanovic put the cherry on top for Serbia with this three-point shot from deep with a hand in his face:

Brazil struggled to score, shooting just 33,8 percent from the field. Anderson Varejao scored a team-high 12 points along with nine rebounds. Tiago Splitter had a tough outing, making just one of his seven field goal attempts.