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Stunned France upsets Australia to advance to men's final
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- There'll be no chance at a gold medal for Andrew Gaze. On the night Gaze set the record for most men's Olympic basketball games played, France stunned Australia 76-52 Friday to advance to its first gold medal game in 52 years. On the day the Australian women's team won to reach the final against the United States, Gaze and his mates came up far short. France, which last reached the semifinals in 1956, started strong against Australia by going up 11-4. It then took control with a 13-0 run to lead 34-17, and coasted after holding the Aussies without a field goal for the opening 7:18 of the second half to take a 57-32 lead. When the game ended, an obviously disappointed Gaze walked among the celebrating French players to offer his congratulations. France (4-3) will play the winner of the United States-Lithuania game for the gold medal on Sunday. France's only medal was the silver in 1948. "It was a dream to be in a semifinal," France center Frederic Weis said. "After winning, it's a dream again.
"I spoke to my wife on the phone, and she said everybody in Limoges is going crazy in the streets, like soccer." Gaze broke the record with his 39th Olympic game, one more than fellow five-time Olympian Oscar Schmidt of Brazil. His 40th and last game will be for the bronze medal. "Our goal is still achievable," Gaze said of winning a medal. "We still have a chance to do something great for Australian basketball. This has left a very bad taste in our mouths but all is not lost. We have a chance to reach a new level. We can't change what happened against France. We have to look ahead." France played without second-leading scorer Yann Bonato, who ruptured his Achilles' tendon in the quarterfinal win over Canada and returned home to undergo surgery in the next few days. France didn't miss him a bit. Laurent Sciarra had three 3-pointers in the first half and Antoine Rigaudeau had two as France took a 44-29 halftime lead and quieted a crowd of 14,653 in the SuperDome. France made sure the crowd was no factor at the start of the second half, opening with a 13-3 run that saw Australia go 0-for-8 from the field and commit four turnovers. Except for pockets of flag-waving France fans, there was very little cheering the rest of the game. "I think in just about every facet of the game we were outplayed. We didn't play to a level we had come to expect," Gaze said. "It was one of those nights. You have to give credit to the French and the way they played." Sciarra finished with 16 points, while Rigaudeau had 13 and Stephane Risacher and Frederic Weis had 11 each. Weis also had nine rebounds. "It is very difficult to comment on a game when your team played like we did," France coach Jean Pierre de Vincenzi said. "Since we played well in our (preliminary round) loss to the United States (106-94) we have lost all our inhibitions. We are happy. We have to be. This has not happened for us since 1948." Shane Heal and Gaze, the second-leading scorer in Olympic history to Schmidt, each had 10 points for Australia. "They did a great job on (Canada guard Steve) Nash, one of the best players in the tournament, and they did a great job on Shane and Andrew," Australia coach Barry Barnes said. "They put us on our back foot early and never let us back in." Australia lost to Canada and Yugoslavia in its opening two preliminary round games and then blew a 24-point second-half lead before rallying to beat Russia. But it had seemed to turn things around. The host team beat Spain in the final pool game to advance to the quarterfinals, then used a 27-point effort from Gaze to beat Italy 65-62 and advance to the semifinals.
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