EUROBASKET 2011

Stefan Markovic and the rest of the Serbian backcourt could not contain Parker, who finished with 24 points

In the last six days, France lost Ronny Turiaf and Antoine Diot for the EuroBasket because of injuries but Les Bleus have shown enough grit and determination to convince they can challenge for a place on the podium at the EuroBasket.

Turiaf had to leave the French squad with a broken left hand and back problems forced Diot out of the squad, but on Sunday the French completed an unbeaten run at the London Invitational Tournament with an 80-77 victory over Serbia.

Tony Parker had 24 points, three assists and six rebounds to lead the French, who will face Serbia in Group B at the EuroBasket.

With Ronny Turiaf on the bench wearing a cast and cheering his teammates on, France opened up a 23-point lead in the third quarter but then had to hold on for dear life at the end to scrape the victory.

"It was a good game from the start," Parker said.

"Serbia has played very well in the second half.

"Their bench helped them back into the game.

"In the first half, they missed a lot of shots that they scored later.

"They came back and we had a tight finish that allowed us to gain experience on the management of late-game situations."

Serbia outscored France 28-12 in the last quarter.

Parker looked ahead to the next game between the sides in Lithuania.

"We know that at the EuroBasket, the situation will be different and that Serbia will play much better," he said.

Boris Diaw, who had seven points, says France need to keep getting better.

He said of the London Invitational: "On the whole, the tournament was positive.

"We won matches, the beautiful game was shown and there was an aggressive defense in each meeting.

"It also allowed us to clearly identify the issues that need further improvement.

"The two remaining games against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Belgium will allow us to refine our game and be more precise and up the intensity before the EuroBasket."

Great Britain Fall To Australia, Croatia Beat China

In the other two games on Sunday, Great Britain fell to Australia in overtime, 91-90, and Croatia beat China 83-53.

Devon van Oostrum, the teenager trying to make the final British squad after competing at the U20 European Championship Division B, had nine points and five assists.

Big man Joel Freeland also weighed in with 22 points and five rebounds.

"All credit to Australia," Britain coach Chris Finch said.

"They played extremely well throughout the game, but I thought our guys played really tough tonight.

"In the third, we hung in there and got to the free-throw line a lot but in the end, we were five or 10 minutes away from a really good tournament results wise.

"It's been part of our learning process and there are a lot of good things to take from this week, we now have a short amount of time to put it all right."

Britain's lone victory came against China but they played well in defeats to Croatia and Serbia.

In Croatia's victory, China trailed just 35-31 at half-time.

Croatia, who got 16 points from Bojan Bogdanovic, pulled away in the second half for a decisive triumph.