Canada Knocks Off France on Day 1 of Basketball World Cup; Japan Loses to Germany

The Associated Press

1:31 JST, August 26, 2023

Canada has never medaled at the Basketball World Cup. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander evidently has his sights on changing that, and his team sent a serious message on the opening night of the tournament.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 27 points and Canada topped France 95-65 in a Group H game at Jakarta, Indonesia, on Friday night. It cap Day 1 of the World Cup that’s also being held in the Philippines and Japan. Canada outscored France 25-8 in the third quarter, turning what was a three-point game at the half into a runaway.

GROUP E: GERMANY 81, JAPAN 63

At Okinawa, Moritz Wagner scored 25 points and added nine rebounds as Germany pulled away from the start and was up 53-31 at the half in the first game in the tournament for both teams.

Dennis Schroder added 14 points and Daniel Theis had 13 for the winners. Moritz Wagner’s brother, Franz Wagner, had 10 points.

Yuta Watanabe topped Japan with 20 points and Yudai Baba added 15 to give some joy to the home fans on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa.

Australia plays Germany on Sunday, while Finland plays Japan.

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