EUROBASKET 2011

Turning Point: France led 65-61 with 18 seconds remaining when Turkey's Emir Preldzic buried a three-ball to cut the gap to two. Tony Parker made two from the charity stripe to give Les Bleus a three-point advantage with five seconds to go and then Turkey, with a chance to tie the game, saw their chances die when Preldzic failed to inbound the ball in time and turned it over. 

Game Hero: France's Tony Parker had 10 of his 20 points in the third quarter. He also hauled down six rebounds and dished out five assists.

Stats Don't Lie: France scored 16 points off Turkey's 16 turnovers. Both teams struggled shooting the ball from behind the arc. France were four of 17 (24%) while Turkey finished five of 24 (21%).

France flirted with a late collapse but beat Turkey 68-64 in Vilnius on Wednesday to remain unbeaten at the EuroBasket and move closer to a place in the Quarter-Finals.

Tony Parker, held to just five points in the first quarter, had 10 in the third and finished with a game-high 20 in the Group E game.

Victory came at a cost, however, as France's most reliable perimeter threat Mickael Gelabale sprained his ankle and had to come out of the contest.

He will not be available on Friday when France take on Lithuania, according to coach Vincent Collet.

Collet knows his team dodged a bullet.

"We are very happy to win this game because for us, it's a big step for the Quarter-Finals," he said.

"One minute from the end, it could have changed.

"We had a 15-point lead at the beginning of fourth quarter but it was a surprising game for both teams. Both teams were tired."

The French were on top 31-27 at half-time and stretched that to a 13-point lead by the end of the third quarter.

Les Bleus appeared to be cruising to victory.

Turkey coach Orhun Ene, however, put his defense into a two-three zone and France's players suddenly found themselves passing the ball around the perimeter and trying to make jump shots.

They missed one attempt after another and Turkey, also struggling with their long-range shooting, managed to get back into the game.

Behind 61-48 with 6:33 left, Turkey got two free-throws from Ersan Ilyasova and a Hedo Turkoglu lay-up to start a 13-2 run.

That spurt was capped by an Ilyasova three-point play to make it 63-61.

The power forward drove into the lane, left his feet and collided with Tony Parker, who had attempted to draw the charge but was a split-second too late getting into position.

Ilyasova's shot went in and he made his free-throw to cut the France lead to 63-61 with 45 seconds to play.

France appeared to have weathered the storm when Parker sank two attempts from the charity stripe with 18 seconds to extend the advantage to 65-61.

After Ender Arslan missed on a drive to the basket, the ball was batted to Emir Preldzic and he hit an off-balance shot from the arc to close the gap to 65-64 with eight seconds to play.

Turkey fouled Parker and he again made two free-throws with five seconds to go.

After an Ene timeout, Preldzic stood across the court from his team's bench and attempted to inbound the ball but failed to do so in time and the ball was turned back over to France.

Turkey fouled Parker, and he added a free-throw to his final haul.

"We didn't play well in the third quarter," Ene said.

"The game should not be so much up and down on our side. We made small mistakes."

Turkey ended up turning the ball over 16 times.

"Finally at the end, we had a very good momentum," Collet said.

"We relaxed a little bit and they put the zone and we couldn't make a shots.

"We were scared as the game continued after we missed seven or eight open shots."

Ene tipped his hat to France.

"They are a good team," he said.

"They have momentum as they won all of their games in Lithuania. But we could have played better."