Patty Mills led the Boomers to a narrow 83-82 victory over France with 24 points, while Victor Wembanyama nearly achieved a triple-double (17-12-8), but his last-second three-pointer was off the mark.
In a thrilling friendly at the Co'Met Arena in Orleans, the Australian Boomers narrowly defeated France 83-82 in a game that went down to the wire.
Dyson Daniels played the hero for the Boomers, scoring a dramatic reverse layup with just one second left on the clock. France's Victor Wembanyama attempted to respond with a three-pointer, but it fell short as time expired.
Wembanyama nearly achieved a triple-double with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists in just over 26 minutes of play.
Patty Mills led all scorers with 24 points, while Josh Giddey contributed 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists. Daniels added 14 points to help secure Australia's victory.
As the host nation, France had a mixed bag of results in their exhibition games. They secured comfortable wins against Turkey (96-46) and Germany (90-66) but also faced losses to the same Germany (65-70), Serbia (67-79), and Canada (73-85).
Australia, meanwhile, showed strong performances. The Boomers narrowly edged Japan (90-89) and then drew with them (95-95). They also beat China twice (107-87 and 91-58), suffered a close defeat to Team USA (92-98), and secured convincing wins against Serbia (84-73) and Puerto Rico (90-75).
Australia, who won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, is coming off a 10th-place finish in the FIBA World Cup 2023. France, the runner-up in Tokyo, also had a disappointing showing last year by not advancing past the group stage, but they will look to turn things around with Wemby on board.
In the Olympic Basketball Tournament, France is in Group B with Germany, Japan, and Brazil, while Australia will compete in Group A alongside Canada, Greece, and Spain.
