Israel knocked off France 91-77 thanks to fantastic performances by both Aviv Aronov and David Musis in FIBA Under-18 European Championship after having defeated Greece in the opening game of the group stages. With the victory, Israel secured first place in the group, making Monday’s contest against Austria (14:00) a formality.

Both teams started cautiously as Aronov hit a 3-pointer to give Israel a slim lead early on as France struggled from beyond the arc but stayed close thanks to offensive rebounds as the young blue-and-white took a 18–16 at the end of the first quarter. Noam Eckstein opened the second quarter with a triple, which was followed up by a dunk from Musis while Amitai Azriel completed an impressive 3-point play but France finished the half strong to knot the score up at 39-39 at halftime.

As the third quarter began, Musis kept scoring as both sides had runs if their own, but points by Rom Stoller late in the period helped Nadav Zilberstein’s team to a 69-59 advantage after their minutes of play. France began he fourth quarter well, but Aronov buried a crucial 3-pointer and then converted a spectacular 3-point play to extend Israel’s lead while Lior Hershko also scored to close out the dominant victory. Aronov scored 31 points whilw Musis added 25 points in the win.

Head Coach Nadav Zilberstein spoke about the win, “I’ve been telling the players since day one that we’re an excellent team capable of achieving great things, but only if we stay focused and play together. We have a tremendous amount of talent and compared to previous Israel national teams, we’re exceptionally athletic, which helps us a lot.

“We did an outstanding job defensively, especially in the second half but also in the first. We simply played excellent man-to-man defense, nothing complicated, just every player knowing exactly what they had to do, what was expected of them defensively, where to provide help and how to defend the pick-and-roll.”

David Musis spoke about the win, “I’m very happy with our victory. We prepare for every game on a tactical level, and I’m glad we were able to execute our game plan. We work hard as a team, and everyone contributes in their own way. I’m happy about the win. France is a tough team, but we knew how to handle them well. Now our focus is on the next game.”